The Mercy Dance
by TheChickenCrazy
Summary: For having such a pleasant namesake, Sweet Amoris really does have the guile of Mordred. It seems like my father's marriage and the move following essentially caused the terror at my new high school, since one of the former students is trying to kill me with the alibi that I'm going to steal "everything" from her. And the best part? She's dead. Castiel/OC Very suggestive content
1. 1) Broken Puzzle Pieces

**A/N: **If you see forum formatting, don't hesitate to tell me…nicely.

**Disclaimer: I don't own My Candy Love.**

**Chapter 1—Broken Puzzle Pieces**

_Saturday, September 5_

My life might have just fallen apart.

I'd hate to be a martyr (the modern day version, at least) but I honestly have just moved onto Snob Hill. West Madison Road looks like a nightmare in itself; every home looks like it belongs in Beverly Hills, every car is worth more than 40,000 dollars, every front yard has been featured in Home and Garden, and every resident is rich. In addition every resident has connections to those who are rich, those who are famous, and those who are rich and famous.

I'm going to stick out like a sore thumb.

When my Dad's Chevy Silverado pulled into our new driveway my jaw barely remained hinged on to my skull. This house was beyond enormous; it was colossal, titanic, monstrous. There were two balconies on the front and who knew how many on the back—the double doors were accessible only after you had climbed a multitude of steps that looked like the equivalent of a stadium mile. It was a Villa-style house that may or may not have been more than three stories, with an intricate garden on either side of the skyrocketing stairs and a huge expanse of front yard, a dusty path leading to the turn-about in front of the four garages.

"Home sweet home," Dad lamented cheerily. He unbuckled the strap around his waist just as the front door to the house swung open and a woman stepped out. My new step-mom.

I stayed there for a moment as he strode with a confident gait towards the woman descending the staircase to meet him, clutching my adidas duffel bag tightly. In the back of the truck our suitcases were strapped down, the overstuffed remains peeking over the bottom border of the window behind me. I gulped loudly.

While Nickelback was blasting in my right ear, I hesitantly opened the door and clambered out of the car. As soon as I had closed the door, I noticed the volleyball net that had been pitched up on the lawn and the two girls sitting on it, huddled together as they observed my Dad from afar. Truthfully I didn't feel like drawing their attention, and getting back in the truck occurred to me as a bizarre idea. So I stood there awkwardly and waited for something to happen, like I usually do.

This time it didn't seem like such a smart thing to do—the girls had turned their hawk-like gazes on me. There was a blonde there wearing a tinny white shorts and a tight floral-print camisole with strappy pink sandals, and a dark haired girl with a pretty Asian face wearing slightly less-cute burgundy sandals with capris and a white blouse. They both gazed haughtily in my direction.

Wonderful. I ducked my head and paced myself, ignoring them and walking over to where my Dad was. I actually had seen them before, at my Dad and Cadence's wedding—they were bridesmaids with Charlotte and me. And they were rotten.

As I approached Dad I managed to see him lean down and kiss Charlotte's mom lightly on the lips. I reminded myself not to cringe but unsuccessfully attempted to repress the annoyed twitch of my eyebrow. He put a hand on my shoulder afterward and smiled lovingly at her. "I'm sure this is going to be a wonderful arrangement, Cadence," he said, shaking me lightheartedly. I was suddenly crushed by depressing thoughts. He hadn't done that since my mother had died. He must be happy.

Too bad we had never had the same interests.

She gave me a kind look—contrary to her daughter's friends and, occasionally, her daughter—and squeezed my hand gently. "I hope you like it here, Adelaide. It's going to be fun, I promise."

If only I had known.

"Mom," Charlotte's voice rang out from behind Cadence. "Where is my Spiker outdoor volleyball?"

Cadence turned to face her daughter, Charlotte, who was almost as ridiculously beautiful as Amber, the blonde sitting in the grass. Her brown hair was pulled away from her face and small, shiny adornments below her eyebrow caught the ceaseless sunlight of late summer, making her look eccentric (which was definitely not her style). A strapless sundress twirled around her legs as she walked.

"I wouldn't know, honey, I haven't seen it since that dog came ravaging about here the other day."

The blood washed away from my face. Did she not know about Beau?

"Oh, that reminds me," Dad started, "we need to pick up some kibble, we didn't pack enough for the dog to last the week." He said it with a crooked smile, and considering Cadence's face I think she _did_ know about Beau.

Charlotte frowned behind her. "Dog? What kind of dog is it?"

"German Shepard," I replied.

"You mean the giant brown and black ones?"

"Well," I replied drily, "Beau is actually grey and black, but yeah, that's the type of dog."

Charlotte looked about ready to make a snide remark but was silenced by a warning glare from Cadence. In response, Charlotte only arched an eyebrow at me and brushed past, heading over toward the girls sitting in the grass.

"Come along, I'll give you two a personal tour," Cadence offered, smiling brightly. My dad stepped up beside her as we started off, while I trailed behind and patiently waited to adjust to the hissing whispers behind me.

I stayed behind them the whole way, not bothering to catch the stolen words they exchanged. Maybe I was just being self-pitying, but I already felt abandoned. At first we toured the pool and hot tub out back, along with the patio, the garden, an unused but well-conditioned set of swings, and the basketball court (THANK YOU, UNIVERSE). Then we passed a loft and a study and a dining room and a living room and a huge kitchen and three bathrooms and a home theater with a bar and the first balcony and another living room in the first story (not counting the garage below), which was two levels with a tall staircase carpeted only in the middle. On the second story we saw a smaller dining room and a smaller loft and a much smaller kitchen and a smaller study and several bedrooms and several guestrooms and two bathrooms. Then there was a shorter spiral staircase that went to Charlotte's bedroom, my bedroom, and our shared toilet and shower—with the attic above us. I don't know why she wanted to live near the attic, nor why I was living on the same floor as her with nothing but a half of a bathroom between us, but what I did know was that I had a mini-fridge and there was a large chute next to the bottom of the stairs for me to throw my laundry into when I was too lazy to go downstairs.

It was kind of a long walk.

As soon as my "tour" was over I retreated to my new room, hoping that my Auntie would bring Beau soon so I had some company. I didn't fight with or dislike Charlotte, but she was a little snooty and it seemed like the prospect of talking to me pained her. I sighed, pulling a folded note out of the pocket of my duffel bag. It was the last thing that Aeron had given me before we broke up.

_Hey, you've been really down lately and I know that moving is going to be tough. I'm going to miss you and so will Em and Brina, and I also know that you won't believe that, but it's true. I just want you to know that I care about you. And to be honest I can see that you're not as in to me as I am in to you. But if you ever need a friend to talk to, just a friend, because I know you're going to break up with me, call me. I swear I'll support you no matter what. I love you, Addie._

He'd never been one to text. It hurt to read it every time, but I couldn't let it go away. I did care for Aeron…like a best friend, like a brother. He was cute and at first I kind of liked him, but I know he's not for me. He cherished me and showered me with gifts and flowers and niceties but it just got boring after a while. Sighing, I noticed the corner of something fuzzy poking out of my bag. It was a stuffed bear from Ken, a boy who had always had a crush on me. A big, slobbery, obsessive crush.

My head fell back and hit the pillow in exhaustion. I was concerned about my health, what with the chances that I stay locked up in this room for the next few years of my life.

And I had to transfer schools…

4


	2. 2) Full Court Press

**Disclaimer: I don't own My Candy Love.**

**Chapter 2—Full Court Press**

_Tuesday, September 8_

I had never considered myself pretty.

I had dark blue eyes and white-blond hair, which made my dusty complexion look even starker, and to many people, fake. My nose was straight and boring, my eyes medium-sized at most, with eyelashes that were long, thick, and very blond. They required brown or black mascara to be seen and even then I just looked average, with regular, plain shapes and square-but-not-square features.

I retained five piercings in each ear and occasionally wore a needle-thin industrial with a heart shape in the center. I also had medallion-looking earrings that had a weird design on them that I had never thought much about other than the fact that they were my mother's.

Now, looking in the mirror, balancing the industrial and the earrings in separate hands, I verbally debated the possibilities, lifting one arm and then the other like a weight. I didn't want to lose the earrings but the industrial seemed too bold for a first day. I resolved just to wear an emerald stud and a ring in each ear, saving my previous choices for another time. I grabbed a plain, striped short black and white dress, my dull blue leather jacket, a silver-white scarf, socks, and my Nike's that were styled similar to a pair of Vans. After straightening my hair, which, despite its length didn't take very long because the waves decided to cooperate today, and brushing on mascara, I tried to use the bathroom but stupid Charlotte decided that she was going to sit on the toilet lid and do her makeup right there with a compact mirror, refusing to move because she's just that stubborn and catty.

So I tossed my dirty laundry into the hole and went down a level, into the smaller kitchen (which wasn't very small). We used this one more often, since the other one was more for parties and special events than anything else. Plus it was ridiculously spacious for the chef, Olga (oh, the clichés) to work in alone. I pointedly sat at the breakfast bar and pulled the orange juice over to myself, pouring a cup and grabbing a plate of fresh chocolate-chip pancakes. Frowning, I glanced up at Olga, washing dishes in the sink, and asked, "Do we have vanilla ice cream?"

She looked vexed, but went to the freezer to retrieve some. I heard Dad laugh as he came in through the doorway, and when I twisted around he was followed shortly by Charlotte. "I'll never get used to that, Addie."

"I kind of figured you would have by now," I responded, eyeing Charlotte. She promptly plopped down at the breakfast table across from Cadence and ignored me.

"Unfortunately not."

After Olga had put the container of vanilla ice cream to my mercy, and I had shoveled a few scoops onto my pancakes before dumping chocolate syrup atop them, Cadence's eye burning my shoulder blades, I dug in ravenously, only stopping twice to gulp down orange juice.

Yum.

"You certainly like your chocolate, Addie!" Cadence chuckled. I winced at the sound of my nickname—even though I knew it couldn't be helped, I just wasn't comfortable with her calling me that. It felt too…familiar.

"Chocolate is a girl's best friend. It's better than an Australian surfer boy," I replied, taking another large bite.

Charlotte snorted and took a comparably tiny bite of her fruit parfait.

"Do you want some coffee, Adelaide?" Olga inquired. I glanced up.

"Only if it's at least half creamer. And it has to have sugar."

"We have French vanilla, hazelnut, hazelnut mocha, and caramel mocha."

"Hazelnut mocha."

While Olga busied herself with my coffee-to-go, Charlotte finished her impossibly tiny meal and tossed the container in the trash. She hovered for a moment, unable to hide the wanting in her eyes as she gazed at my nearly-absent breakfast. "Do I have to take you to school?"

"Yes," Cadence answered immediately, lending me a generous grin.

I returned it weakly. "Isn't there a bus stop nearby? I could just do that."

"Not up here," Charlotte said, and we both knew that it was because West Madison Road was the home of the wealthy and fortunate. They didn't need to ride the "shame train". "So I guess I'm taking you. Let's go."

I pushed my now-empty plate away, receiving my thermal cup of hazelnut mocha coffee after I slung my pack over my shoulder. Dad sent a thumbs up my way as I left the kitchen and followed Charlotte out of the house.

…

I didn't understand why everyone was gawking at me as I walked in to the school until I realized that I'd gotten out of the same expensive-looking car as my new step-sister, who was evidently very popular and very feared. As soon as she had begun to approach Amber and Li, however, the two looking like they'd recently gone on a shopping spree (and they had, because Charlotte went, too), I slowed down and scowled. I did not like Amber. Two days ago she'd told me my favorite pair of boots were hideous when she was over playing beauty salon and then stole one of my skirts—because she wanted to wear it—and then lied about having it. So I never got it back.

As I became lost in the crowd of kids cramming in, shouting and calling and waving to one another, someone hit my arm particularly hard and jarred my elbow. Luckily my coffee was in the other hand; I turned to snap at the culprit, a tall blond boy with golden eyes and a clipboard in hand, but he beat me to it.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to hit you. It's very crowded."

No kidding. You're standing in front of the main doors and the school literally just opened.

"Uh, it's okay, I guess," I said dubiously. He frowned. "Are you new? I haven't seen you before."

The school term had only been in session since last Wednesday, and I hadn't been here Monday because I wasn't registered yet. He must be either very observant or very stupid. "Yeah, I just moved here a few days ago."

For a moment he was quiet, comprehending. Then recognition flashed in his eyes. "Oh. You're Charlotte's step-sister, Adelaide, isn't that right?"

Ugh. "Yeah."

He smiled. "I'm Nathaniel. Charlotte is one of my sister's best friends. You've met Amber, haven't you?"

Oh.

My.

Goodness.

This sweet, polite boy was_ Amber's_ brother?

"Er…I've met her." Did I mention that I hate her? No? Well, I hate her. Newsflash. Ha. Ha. Ha.

"Well I guess we might see more of each other. If you'll excuse me, I have to get to something…"

As soon as he left the air around me seemed a lot less dense. It was too bad that he was Amber's brother because…well…he was cute. Really cute.

"Hey!" I cried as someone rammed into me. I stumbled, scalding hot coffee sloshing onto my hand from its open lid, and switched my grip to the other one as I desperately shook it off. "Hey, what the hell?"

A red-haired boy wearing a leather jacket twisted back to look at me. His glance was cursory and careless. "Move out of the middle of the hallway if you're going to just stand there."

"I was talking to someone!" I protested hotly.

"Yeah, who? Casper the friendly ghost?"

My face burned and I suddenly wished that Nathaniel was still standing here making pointless conversation. "I was talking to a boy before you came along," I snapped. He raised an eyebrow like he knew what that meant and he just didn't care, like he could just toss what I said in the trash because he hadn't found use for it.

"Good for you," he replied simply, striding away. I clenched my teeth in annoyance. I _hated _this school!

Great. Now I needed paper towels and had to wander aimlessly before I found a bathroom that could be anywhere, even right next to me, and I wouldn't notice it. And there was no way I was asking Charlotte—by the looks everyone gave her and Amber and the wide berth around them as they stood in the hall, it seemed that they weren't socially popular so much as theoretically.

It was just my luck that during my useless ambling about the school, which was really just walking around and praying that the bathroom would jump out in front of me or I would run into Nathaniel again so I could ask him while the coffee began to dry on my hand, making it sticky, that the bell rung for class. I scowled. I hadn't even thought to get my schedule from the office and now I had what looked like diarrhea on my hand. Could this day get much worse.

"Hey. Hi!" someone said, tapping me on the arm. I swiveled around to face a bright-eyed girl with pumpkin orange hair braided neatly down over her shoulder with a smile on her face. "You're new, aren't you?"

"Yes," I answered after a moment's hesitation. I was scared to ask her for help, because the chances of her being a superficial snob like Amber and Charlotte seemed very high at this point.

"What's your name?"

"…Addie."

"I'm Iris. Do you need any help? You look a little lost."

"Uh…yeah, where's the bathroom?"

Her grin was toothy but kind. "See that door? That says Student Counsel Room? There's a bathroom in the cubby behind it," she explained. I squinted. I could see that past that precise door it looked like an indent for a storage closet, and when I saw the water fountains I breathed a sigh of relief. After this I could get my schedule from the office, which I'd seen at the front of the school. Then I could get to class—hopefully the teacher would take it easy on the new kid.

"Thank you," I said gratefully. She responded with a short "uh, huh" and walked past me, following a throng of kids as they filed into a nearby classroom. I headed for the water fountains, turning right into a bathroom with a plaque depicting a classic pink stick figure wearing a dress on the door. As soon as I stepped inside, a whiff of nostalgia hit me as I recognized the apparently normal toilet stench of high school. I sighed. It was hard to miss any school, let alone high school when you're given education freely, but the stalls, sink and mirror were set up almost exactly the same as the downstairs bathrooms at my old school.

I dropped my bag and set my mocha on the counter next to the sink, running my hand under the nozzle to make the hot water flow. I had always told myself, particularly in moments where the humor seemed ill, that when life gave you lemons you made grape juice. I had never found the metaphor itself funny, because there were few situations where I could apply it in my life, but lemonade had never been an option, either.

"Yeah," I said to my reflection, "I'm going to need some seriously delicious grape juice."

…

"Who is that kid," I asked Iris, who had been kind enough to guide me to my classes at the expense of her own passing time, "standing over there?"

Iris frowned thoughtfully. "You mean Castiel?"

_Well I wouldn't know,_ I thought drily, but didn't say it because I didn't want to scare off the only person who was helping me. So far, I had no classes with Charlotte, and that could turn bittersweet if Iris ended up not liking me.

"Sure. Him. He ran into me this morning and didn't even apologize."

Iris laughed. "Castiel rarely apologizes for anything. I've known him since middle school and he's always been like that."

I baulked. "Well it makes him really unattractive."

She cocked her head to the side. "Really? Most girls I know would disagree."

I bet they would.

The teacher was late, so we were standing in the hall after the bell rang waiting for him to come and open the door. I shifted my weight from hip to hip, glad that I wasn't getting as much attention as this morning. Mostly, the kids were just talking and ignoring me. It was better than the guarded stares, at least.

"Did you yell at him?" Iris inquired.

"Kind of. I sort of just snapped."

"Oh," she replied. "What did he say?"

I thought back. "He told me that I was sexy."

Iris guffawed, clutching her stomach as she doubled over in laughter. I stood there and met the gazes of other people boldly, as if it were perfectly normal. Castiel, leaning against the wall, let his eyes flicker over briefly before returning elsewhere in disinterest. I felt oddly disappointed.

When the teacher came and let us in, he pulled me to the front of the classroom and had me introduce myself.

What the crap, dude. It's practically the beginning of the year!

"Tell us your name," he said enthusiastically. I inwardly squirmed at the eyes on me.

"Addie," I responded quietly, feeling extremely out of place in front of the sea of unknown eyes. The only people I recognized were Iris and Li, and the latter was no comfort.

"Your last name?"

"Fierce."

"Well, it's nice to meet you Addie. You can sit behind Lysander, right there." He directed me to an empty seat behind a boy with…white hair…that seemed to be spacing out. I grabbed my bag and avoided the gazes fixed on me. When I got to my seat, I intentionally dropped my things, the heavy impact jarring most people out of their curiosity, as well as startling Lysander, in front of me. When I had settled in and warded off the lingering stares with my poisonous looks, I leaned over the desk and whispered, "…sorry."

Lysander inched backward. "That's quite alright, I've been lost in thought for just slightly too long."

I furrowed my brow, because he couldn't see me giving him a weird look, but in all honesty I sort of liked the kid. He looked like the kind of person who wouldn't care if he saw me decide to go dumpster diving for fun.

"Please take out your notes from yesterday, class. Lysander can share his notes with you, Addie. So, continuing on from yesterday's lesson, we were studying etymology, specifically the development of witchcraft in early modern Christian Europe and people's perspectives on it today. Witchcraft was seen as a satanic practice…"

While I scribbled down the neat, looped writing from Lysander's notebook, I noticed the bent page corners at both right sides. I frowned, straightening one of them, only to find that there were two pages. I hadn't seen the second one because the first corner overlapped the second, and that one was bent too. I gently tugged them apart, seeing the entire second page littered with crowded writing in pale colour. The words were so tightly compacted that it was hard to find the spaces and it looked as if he had seen more of the paper than I had, and had kept writing straight off the edge onto the table. I glanced fleetingly at him, but his back was to me. Reading it…it sounded like poetry, but it was livid, like he was singing to someone, trying to express something.

When I felt the eyes on my back—actually felt them—I quickly smoothed the papers together and refolded the corners. Thanking Lysander, I handed it back to him, closed, and lay my pen down next to my own half-filled sheet.

He sang, then.

That was cool, because I did too.

…

I didn't want to go home in the same car as Charlotte.

But it's not like I could, considering she drove off without me. So I waited in the courtyard, sitting with my back against the basketball hoop and my knees drawn up in front of me while I waited for my dad to text me back. I wasn't going to call him because for some reason he always seemed to answer my texts instead of my calls. He was probably at work, but I didn't have any other options because Cadence worked at the dentistry and couldn't leave. Hopefully, he hadn't taken his lunch today.

The doors to the courtyard swung open, and Castiel stepped out, looking very pissed off. I wondered if what Iris said was true, and if he was just always a dick.

He stopped by the metal basket outside the doors and snatched a ball from inside. Now I shifted uncomfortably, thinking that he might end up wanting to use this hoop, instead of the one on the other court. He was wearing basketball shorts and a t-shirt with a logo or symbol on the top left side of his chest, along with sneakers. I shrunk slightly as he approached, even though I saw the boys on the second court hollering at him and waving. He wasn't coming over here. He wasn't.

I pulled my iPod out of my jacket pocket and turned the volume up, then studied my phone intently while I tried to make it look like I was doing something on it. At that moment, my Dad had never had such perfect timing.

**To: Addie**

**Sorry, sweetie. I'm busy. It's not that far of a walk, just take the long way. I don't want you walking up Meriwether Heights with that thin road.**

Great. I had to walk past the graveyard.

"Hey."

I jumped, and my phone clattered to the ground. I cursed and picked it up, studying it for scratches before glaring at the boy standing before me. "What do you want?" I demanded.

"You obviously have a tendency to get in the way. We're using this court," he replied.

I scowled. "What's wrong with the _other _court?"

"There aren't any nets. And those posts are crap."

"So? If you're any good it shouldn't matter what the posts are like," I responded coolly.

"Actually," and now he shot a layup into the newer post I sat against, the ball sliding through the net to bounce dangerously close to my head, "it jars the shot. Makes it hard to score."

"Then you'll get better," I pointed out.

He stared at me, ball at his side. Then he held it out to me. "Then you make it."

I glanced at the ball, then at him. I noticed the boys that were silent on the far court, and debated my possibilities. It would be getting dark soon, and I still had to get past the cemetery, which was going to freak me out whether it was light or dark, but especially if it was dark. I really should go now so it wouldn't be pitch black when I got there, but with Castiel standing here, challenging me, I couldn't walk away.

I snatched the ball from his hands and didn't bother dribbling, just walked to the three point line at the second court. The kids before me snickered and pointed and whistled, and suddenly I wished my dress was longer or that I was wearing jeans. When I said it was short I meant it.

I focused on the hoop. I _knew _how to play basketball. I'd played for years. I had talent for it—I was one of the best point guards in my old league the minute I learned to dribble. I brought the ball up, knees bent, not really touching the ball with my left hand. Then, I pushed up, throwing my force into my right arm with a flick of my wrist. The ball soared in a perfect arch, beautifully placed and began its descent towards the hoop. I tried to repress my urge to count the seconds. As it came down, I suddenly became aware that if it wasn't going to go straight through, and it even tapped the ring, the older posts on this court _could _cause it to miss.

I almost hissed with annoyance as it lightly kissed the hoop and bounced upward again. I bit my lip as it landed on the outer edge, rolling along the circumference. Come on, toilet bowl, toilet bowl…

Not enough. The post rattled too much and the ball tipped in favor of the world outside the hoop before falling to the ground. I dropped my raised hands to my side, my face burning. Ugh.

I turned to Castiel. "I was leaving anyway. You can have the stupid court." I brushed past him, intending to hit his shoulder, but he was rock-hard and I rebounded more than he did. I grasped the strap of my pack and slung it on, leaving behind the silent, stony look I knew he was giving me.

…

By the time I got to the graveyard the sun was setting and shadows crawled insidiously across the ground, whispering on my ankles. The wind raked my hair with cold, foreboding claws and I shivered, pulling my jacket tight around me. I would make it out of here before dark.

I started when I felt something crunch underneath my foot. Leaping away, in the weak light, I saw that it was just a large pebble that had been ground into the path from many a grieving passersby. I huffed, the sound deafeningly loud against the silence of the graveyard.

I almost screamed and fainted when I heard an almost exact replica of my noise echo from the tree line. My body shook but my legs were frozen, and a cold sweat broke out on my forehead. The huff came again, but this time it was almost a bark, a rippling, cord-stringing hiss that made my insides vibrate and squirm. Something moved in the underbrush, huge, menacing.

I whipped around and sprinted down the path faster than I've ever run. When I burst out of the gate on the far side, spotting the risen West Madison Road on the hill down the street, I pushed my legs to carry me far from the cemetery in the gathering darkness. I only took one moment to look at the sky, and there were stars there, enough to comfort my racing heart as I punched in the code at the gate entrance of West Madison Road and dived in as soon as there was the slightest breach. I waited for them to close behind me, watching the trees rustle and sigh in the cold wind as I caught my breath.

After a moment, I realized my stupidity. For all I knew, I'd heard my own breathing, and there could have been just a stray dog. And now I was standing in the middle of the road like an idiot.

I am so freaking cool.

I shook my head, turning to walk the rest of the way home, but every shadow still seemed to grin at me.

**I believe that a good story can't go anywhere unless there are reviewers.**

**Well, I mean, it's what you want it to be, but I really like reviewers.**

**R&R please.**


	3. 3) The Rumor

**Disclaimer: I don't own My Candy Love.**

**Chapter 3—The Rumor**

_Friday, October 3_

Beau had rarely missed a morning before a school day with me, and worse hadn't really ever come to worst. I would always grab dog food and a biscuit I claimed was for me and jump out my window on the first floor. But now my house was four stories tall with multiple levels, and although I did have a huge tree by my window, it was, well, huge. Not something I'd want to climb down just to feed my dog. Dad would feed him before he went to work; but for some reason Beau loses weight shockingly fast, so it never hurt to give him a little extra since I didn't have time to play with him before school. I was also going to have to improvise and build him a doghouse at some point. He would stink up the house and leave fur on the furniture, and I doubt Cadence would like that.

It wasn't like I cared, but Dad would probably kill me. At an astonishingly loud bark from the growing pup (and he was actually still a puppy), I dropped the bag with my English muffin in it and its contents flew across the patio in a show of sausage and cheese. Beau happily stole my breakfast, and that really was my breakfast—I'd already handed him a dog treat.

"Oh, Beau," I sighed. "Always trying to make me starve, aren't you?"

"I thought Taegan was going to feed him," Charlotte's voice rang out from behind me, though I didn't even flinch at her use of my Dad's first name. I twisted around to glance briefly at her while scratching Beau behind the ears as he demolished my food.

"Yeah. He was extra hungry today," I didn't care to make the lie believing. It wasn't really a crime and I wouldn't get grounded for it. Probably.

Charlotte sent me a disbelieving stare. Maybe she wasn't as completely stupid as she looked. "Hurry up. I don't want to be late," she said. I rolled my eyes and patted Beau's rump affectionately one last time before standing up and brushing the dog fur off of my jeans. "See you later, buddy."

…

I didn't know how I could be so fearless when it came to scary movies, but when we started watching the one with the creepy little girl in it I think that Kim and I were the only ones who _didn't _jump every time that doll moved. And it wasn't even the doll moving—it was the ghost possessing it. This was why I didn't think it was a legit thing to be scared of the doll and not the ghost, in Violette's case.

A month into the school year, and here I was, sitting on the floor _right_ in front of the TV of the home theater in Iris's house. Kim sat next to me, looking bored, while we leaned against the ottoman that Rosalya had spread out across. Melody, Capucine and Violette were huddled on the couch, with Iris next to them, looking slightly less ruffled from the chill the movie was supposed to entertain.

Another face in the mirror, another spectral figure, and the girls shrieked just to shriek—not because it was scary, because this was an old movie and I think they were just freaked out from watching the other ones beforehand. And that was it for me; one more of Capucine's I-am-a-little-piggy-and-I-am-dying screams and I will _blow up_. Literally, I will blow up and have Lysander's brother sew me back together so I can blow up again in her face.

"Okay," I said, stepping in front of the TV as something long and sharp emerged from the crack of the closet door, and the woman in the movie fell backwards with a cry of fear, "I know this is just _so scary_, but come on, guys. Really. You don't have to scream bloody murder after _every _crisis point. Sure, a short shriek because it startled you—but to keep screaming for five minutes straight, when you can see that he is trying to grab her and is still trying to do it—that's ridiculous. Especially you, Capucine. You're doing that to piss me off and we all know it."

Capucine gave me that creepy, smug smile of hers. Acting like I wasn't there _at all_, she leaned towards Melody and whispered, "I think it's working."

Melody offered me a weak smile, and I just stared at Capucine's turned head. "So Capucine," I started coolly, "I heard that Armin rejected you."

It could only have been better if it were Amber. Capucine's face went bright red and her eyes seemed to dilate. "That's—that's—I don't know what you're talking about."

"It was probably those mixed signals you were sending him," I continued, ignoring her outburst, "You know, one minute it's 'Oh, I really like you and I think you're cute,' and then, when Amber's around, it's 'You mean the video game nerd? Never!'"

Capucine leapt from the couch. "You're making that up! That NEVER happened."

"Actually," Kim said laconically, craning her head to see around me, "I filmed you flirting with him in second period. And then I filmed you at telling Amber at lunch he was gross."

"You didn't," Capucine's face was ghostly white now. "I know you didn't."

"You're right. I didn't. But Peggy did," Kim responded lazily.

Capucine dropped onto the couch, defeated. "Ugh! It's no wonder nobody likes her, she's always snooping!"

"Pfft. Knock knock, hello, yes, it's Capucine, the world's biggest hypocrite," I inserted, passing my weight to my left hip and crossing my arms. Iris frowned thoughtfully and cocked her head.

"What?" I asked.

She smiled. "You look a lot like Castiel right now."

I think Rosalya just about died laughing. I rolled my eyes at what had become our group's inside joke. "Yeah, might as well start calling me that," I sighed. Capucine looked confused—she wouldn't know, she tends to avoid everyone when I'm around. Good thing, too. If her mouth ran this often on a regular basis I wouldn't have hesitated to make a few much-needed adjustments to her face.

"Okay. You are now officially Castiel," Iris declared. "Do we need to reintroduce everyone?"

"Yeah. Because Castiel would totally walk in on a slumber party with people he barely knows. Cool," I replied, but I was grinning.

I glanced around for a moment. "I'll be right back."

When I did come back, I was wearing Iris' younger brother's jeans and leather jacket, letting the former fall as low on my hips as they could without showing my ass, because thankfully, Castiel didn't like to flaunt his boxers; I doubted he needed to advertise to get lucky. I'd worn a red tank top under my lace black shirt today, so I had removed the top layer to complete the look before tucking my hair into the collar of the jacket. Although the tank top still looked feminine, because it didn't quite stretch enough to cover the inch of bare skin above the rim of the jeans, I thought I almost had it down.

"Dead-on," Rosalya lamented.

"What the hell? You're pissing me off, don't talk to me, I don't like women," I grumbled, scowling and crossing my arms. The girls howled with laughter. I stalked over to Violette's side with an agitated gait. "What the hell are you staring at?"

"Something ugly," Kim joked. I wheeled on her. "Have you looked in a mirror?"

"Ha ha, okay, okay, let's not get too into it. Castiel wouldn't like it very much if he knew what we were doing," Iris said, placing her hands horizontal in the air as a calming effect.

"For the time being he doesn't know, so why does it matter?" Rosalya pointed out. My eyes flickered over to Capucine. Her will was about as resilient as a dead chicken; and the willingness to hurt other people as a method to climb the social ladder was profuse. It didn't take a profound thinker to see that and, with that realization dawning on me, I knew that there wasn't any weight on the right side of the scale in Capucine's mind. The left platter fell with a heavy noise of promised social ascent and deprived her of all sympathy. She was going to do what she did best, and it didn't seem like she was too concerned with the possibility of karma.

"Because people talk," I replied heatedly, suddenly hyper-aware of the threat of Capucine's mouth. "And if they're not careful they regret it."

"Oh yeah, do any of you remember Lilith? She was horrible with that kind of thing," Rosalya continued. "She repeated _everything _she heard. She's the reason Jett dumped Charlotte sophomore year."

"…And you are saying a bunch of names I don't know. So I'll just…" I pulled the ottoman away from Melody and Iris' feet and sat on it expectantly, awaiting confusion by the past of these girls.

"Lilith used to go to our school. She was this catty skank with a passion for ruining other peoples' lives," explained Kim.

"Well when you name your kid that, it should be expected," I replied, frowning.

"Yeah. She was like Amber's 'frenemy'. They were the talk of the school when they went at it," Iris continued, rolling her eyes lightheartedly. "She wasn't very nice to people, you can imagine."

"Huh. Another plague, as bad as Amber? Your lives must have sucked. And I mean that in the nicest way possible," I said, grinning.

"It's not funny," Capucine snapped. "She was ugly and rude. Nobody liked her."

Kind of like you. Ha ha. "Did you whine like that when she was around? Because I can understand why she wouldn't like _you_."

Capucine sent me a poisonous glare, which I returned with sevenfold the ferocity. "Well? Are you going to answer the question?"

"Capucine didn't actually have to open her mouth to earn animosity from Lilith," answered Kim. "The chick was nuts and everyone knew it. She'd sneak into the teacher's lounge and read all the records for each class to learn about anyone and their past. When she found something interesting, or unique in a way that she could use to her advantage, she would seek them out and make their life miserable.

"She was also part of some sort of cult group that worshipped demons and the like. She only managed to 'befriend' Amber through the fear of other kids. They were the worst thing that had ever happened to Sweet Amoris High. Actually, just Sweet Amoris in general. She probably tainted the city with her weirdness."

"Hey," I started, putting my hands up jokingly, "Weird is a derogatory term in my book. Be nice, I have weirdness problems."

"Yeah, you do," Capucine grumbled. I ignored her.

"Well Lilith used to walk around the grave yard at night. It was creepy," Rosalya disclosed.

"How do you know that?"

"She didn't try to hide that sort of thing," Melody answered.

"Did she wear black lipstick?" I inquired.

"No," Violette said, "it was red."

"Yep, black hair, red lips, pale skin, grey eyes. And a bitch," informed Kim.

"Huh. So she was a slut?" I guessed. Everyone nodded their heads in consent except for Iris, and Melody sort of tried to smile apologetically as she did so, like she was ashamed for agreeing.

Lilith must've been pretty bad.

"She was constantly hitting on guys. She especially liked Castiel because she knew Amber did," Capucine began—before her eyes widened and she slapped her hand over her mouth. I gave her my absolutely splendiferous "W-T-F" look. "What the heck are you doing that for?"

Capucine looked vexed. "You…you already knew?"

"Knew what?"

She seemed relieved. "You didn't hear me, did you?"

"Bro," I replied, grinning, "I sure as hell did hear you. If you're talking about the Amber-likes-Castiel thing…I _did_ already know. It's completely obvious, especially during lunch. She stares. A lot. Besides, he told me."

"She's crazy too, all stare-y and crap," Kim joked. "But Lilith…was nuts."

"You are what you eat. Avoid that and fruits," I responded.

"Addie," Iris scolded, covering her mouth.

"Don't take that the wrong way. Apparently I'm not supposed to say the 'G' word at home. It's derogatory."

Kim glanced furtively at me. "Like 'weird'?"

"Yeah. And retard. Evidently they changed the official term to 'intellectually disabled' because 'retard' became a nasty insult," I said, dropping my heels on the floor. It kind of hurt after a while, so I stopped.

"Don't take this the wrong way, kiddo, but the connotation of 'nerd' really doesn't fit in with your look," Kim lamented.

"Well if acting smart doesn't get me what I want, I can always act dumb. It works for every other girl on the planet," I responded. "And I do dress like a sexy fish."

"Sexy fish?" Violette echoed in bewilderment.

"Fish are pretty stupid. And I'm blonde. I must look like the mean girl," I added thoughtfully.

"Actually, you aren't necessarily the mean blonde at school, but anyone who didn't know you wouldn't see that." Rosalya brushed a few chip crumbs off of her lap.

"What were we talking about? I forget," I said, frowning. "Oh yeah. The psychopathic bitch who stole Violette's cookies."

"She never stole my cookies," Violette replied with a perplexed face.

"If she was so horrible, where is she now? Did she move, transfer or something?" As I phrased the question, Aeron's maple-brown eyes flashed in my mind, and a heavy weight wedged itself into my stomach. Sometimes I wondered how my leaving had affected him. I hadn't even called him yet.

Iris and Kim exchanged a glance. Melody pursed her lips. "What? You guys look like I just asked to have a threesome or something."

"Uh…well, the thing is…" Rosalya gulped, the tension in the air palpable. I almost cringed. "See…we don't _know _what happened to her."

I blinked. "Did she run away?"

Rosalya shrugged. "The last anyone had seen of her, she was going into the farther into the cemetery than anyone ever had. Apparently she never came back."

"Oh, jeez," I muttered. "That's heavy."

Violette shuddered. "Now everybody avoids the cemetery altogether. They say she still runs around at night."

"Lilith?"

Kim rolled her shoulders. "Yup. Crap about seeing her there went around for a while. Some wimpy kid at our school claimed that she followed him when he was passing through and that she tried to bury him in a grave or whatever."

I raised an eyebrow. "Could you rephrase that? I don't speak bullshit."

"Exactly," Kim said.

"I don't know. Remember that cemetery cleanup we did for CLAN last year? Some weird stuff went on then," Iris pointed out. She looked at me. "We saw this full grown man there, and he kept asking us where his toys were. We tried to take him to one of the supervisors but he ran off."

I suppressed a snicker. "His toys?"

"I was there…" Melody began.

"Could we _please _stop talking about ghost stories?" Capucine snapped. Her face had gone white.

I folded my legs and stared her straight in the eye. "Are you scared?"

"…There's nothing wrong with that! Of course I am!"

My features hardened. "My mom told me my first ghost story when I was five. And you want to know what I did? I went ghost hunting in my closet with a frying pan and a toy mallet."

"You have a brave heart, Addie," said Iris. "Most people don't."

I snorted. There was nothing brave about running away from imaginary predators in the graveyard at night.

Even so, next time I was walking up Meriwether Heights. That, or I'm cutting through the dense foliage of Siren Woods.

"I only consider someone brave when they don't cry and complain. And I'm guilty of both."

"Everyone cries," Melody noted, sending me a curious look.

I didn't bother shaking my head or explaining. If I made a religion then crying would be a sin. It was the most useless thing—it didn't do _anything _to help you. It didn't do anything to _hurt _you. It was in between, which meant there was no point in it. Yet it was still an impulse, and nothing had stopped me from bawling when I watched my mom's heartbeat die out forever.

…

Saturday morning, after I had left Iris' house, I went home only to receive a call from Kim later in the day about a party at "the Reef". After a few threats from the girl and at the last string of excuses I could think of, I gave in and promised to meet her there.

"It's down on Sunnyside Beach, sort of near Titanic Point," Kim instructed as I clicked around on my computer, pretending to be on Google Maps. She had superhuman ears. "It's usually where the smart swimmers—people who don't want to drown—go in the summer. And then the stupid people jump off of Titanic Point's seventy foot cliff…"

I didn't bother asking why they called it Titanic Point. I sighed and twisted around in my computer chair. The room that had once been a dull shade of khaki with wood paneled floors was now adorned with soft zebra print wallpaper and pink paint. Here and there I had sequins, distressed furniture, and a chain on the wall opposite the door stretching from one wall corner to the other. On it hung pictures, paintings, and other knick knacks that had been put there for memory.

"I guess I'll be there. The _oh-so-original _seven o' clock, right?" I verified. Kim made an approving noise on the other end, so I muttered an unfriendly goodbye and hung up. I would prefer to stay home on the couch eating chocolate chip ice cream and watching movies, but I guess that's just too much to ask for.

…

I ended up calling Kim and having her pick me up—Charlotte couldn't convince Amber that I would be able to sneak away fast enough to avoid being seen with the former. It started with me mentioning a party to Dad, which resulted in him frowning with concern and calling to Cadence for counsel. This pricked Charlotte's curiosity, who became outraged that she hadn't been informed about it at school. As a matter of fact, Amber and Li hadn't been invited, either, and about two seconds into Charlotte's rant one of the two called and reported that Capucine had told them about it.

Of course, always Capucine. I think I'll start calling her that—Always Capucine. It's a pretty good epithet, if you think about it. Maybe "Al" for short.

So the rule was that I had to be home by eleven, which sort of sucked. As I climbed into Kim's sleek, race car track-worthy vehicle (which more likely than not didn't have a muffler from what I could tell by the loud, obnoxious roar it emitted), she raised an eyebrow as Charlotte's white Toyota Prius hybrid rolled out of the turnabout. I rolled my eyes, answering the unasked question.

Kim nodded approvingly at my outfit as she zipped out of the driveway, coming up on Charlotte's fender as her left turn signal blinked. "That's a good choice. You been to many real parties?"

"Yeah, I've been to a few," I replied. I was wearing small dark wash black shorts with silver glitter on one side—just one—and intricately designed leggings, transparent, with fleur de lis on the top and alternating floral and lace print at the shin and down along with bright candy red Vans that had cost me a fortune. I also donned a wide-necked white cap sleeve shirt with fishnet sleeves, which stretched in between my middle and ring finger on each hand. The design on the front was that of a cracked skull resting over the top of a wilting flower. The way it was made looked far better than that of the cartoonish-style skulls with the bow on the head. Rings decorated my fingers, one modeled precisely after a silver owl.

"You should have worn those kick-ass heels," she lamented.

"Too many dark colours with those. And would you have worn heels to a party at the beach?"

"We usually we dance on the rock plateau. It basically covers half of the Reef. The rest is sand by the water, where people go to relax or pass out." I snickered.

"And then the rock clefts are where you'll find people having sex." At that I burst out laughing, because I am very immature and find sex funny.

"I went over there looking for someone this one time, I don't remember why. I was a freshman, and even though there were other people in my grade there, they were mostly getting drunk or high, or sitting around because they weren't comfortable dancing with drunks.

"So I went off to the cliffs to find this person and I heard moaning at one point. I thought somebody had fallen in a crevice because it was dark or something and that they were in pain, so I started looking for them. I came to this overlook with a three foot wall on the end and could hear it really loud on the other side."

I stifled laughter. I could see where this was going. "So I glanced over it, and below me, Charlotte was on her knees giving her boyfriend, Jett, a blowjob."

My jaw fell. "_Charlotte?_"

Kim nodded.

"Shit," I uttered. "That's raunchy."

"Yeah, I know. I sort of stood there for, like, two minutes. I was like, 'what the truck'."

I cackled with shaking movements. "You just sat there and watched them?"

"I was more looking up the sky and asking myself why it had to be me that found them, but sure, let's just say I was gaping with a line of drool going down my chin at the size of his—"

"OH MY GAWDS! MY INNOCENCE!" I shouted, rolling down the window to hear the hiss of the wind. It whipped my hair and parted my lips, tasting of fresh rain and the crisp tang of autumn. In all honesty, I almost wanted to hear what she would have said (because I'm a pervert, I will not lie), but if I did my mind would be dirty for the rest of the night, and I would be easily aroused by the boys I knew were going to try and touch me later on. Not good, because being easy wasn't my thing.

"Oh please," responded Kim, zooming down Meriwether Heights. "It doesn't really matter. They aren't together anymore. They totally hate each other now."

I rolled the window up and propped my feet on the dashboard. "Oh, that guy that you mentioned broke up with her because of Lilith. Did she like come on to him or something?"

"She thought he was hot, obviously. He is _really _sexy. I don't know how Charlotte snagged a guy like that, but she did for about two years, and then Lilith came into the picture. Started some sick rumor that Jett had gotten Charlotte pregnant and managed to get people to believe that it was actually her that started it. From there Lilith made more and more lies about them until Jett just broke it off because he couldn't take the criticism anymore. I've never seen Charlotte look so destitute." Kim's voice had become grim.

"…And we're moving on to happier topics. Like that really, really freaking hot guy over there," I commented as we passed the clothes shop.

Kim snorted. "Isn't that Rosalya's boyfriend?"

"Yep. He's delicious-looking, I tell you."

The rest of the ride was filled with the occasional jab about the foot sizes of the boys at school (if you know where I'm coming from) and me rolling down the window to very literally howl at the people on the street. I might have yelled something potentially provocative to a potential rapist with the potential to potentially rape me, but if he saw the license plate, it wasn't mine, anyway. Not that I wouldn't defend Kim from a rapist (as if she needed it), but if we were running from a flesh-eating monster in a dark alleyway and there wasn't a dragon-slaying prince nearby, I wouldn't hesitate to trip her.

I'm kidding, I'm kidding, don't get so worked up about it, kids.

When we pulled up to the Reef, I instantly did _not _regret coming. I loved mosh pits, mostly because you get to elbow people in the ribs for no apparent reason, and this was practically one. I bolted from the car, leaving the door open despite Kim's surprised shout, and—get this—leaped right into the fray with a whoop. There was a massive rock slab, as Kim had promised, where everyone was dancing, and farther off I saw people sitting in the sand. There weren't many, considering this party had probably just started (did that sound lame to anyone else? Because it sounded lame to me).

"Christ, Addie. What was that for?" Kim shouted over the throbbing bass beat that was coming from…nowhere…with a scowl.

"That was for making a short joke about me!" I exclaimed, shaking my hips with lighthearted vigor.

"Huh?"

"Telling me I should've worn heels!"

Kim grinned. "Sorry, I was thinking you wouldn't want to be eye level with hips! I was so sure you had standards!"

I stopped in the middle of my crossed-wrists dance (you all know it, don't lie), staring at her. "Actually, I do, but to get to someone like me—someone so damn Addilicious—you should have _some _sort of sexual tension. I _like _sexual tension."

And the slutty side of Addie has emerged. Wonderful. I beamed comically at Kim, resuming my dance at a backward pace. Kim didn't move, holding my gaze with an incredulous, but amused, expression. She shook her head as I retreated. "Leaving me already, when I drove you here?"

"Yeah!" I called. "Going to go find a sexy fish!"

She laughed. "Okay then, Addilicious!"

…

About an hour into my busting-out-of-the-crazy-dance-moves-that-include-grinding-that-is-discouraged-to-young-people, I went and sat down on the beach by the waves where the chill of the sand cooled my burning body. Things were starting to get ugly on the flat and frankly, no matter how much I "embraced" my hormones, taking off my shirt—bra included (though nonexistent for the majority)—was not appealing. At all.

I'd managed to avoid the drugs for the most part, although my alibi for the first confrontation was less than impressive. Thankfully, I wasn't pursued after I scurried away, finding a somewhat crowded food shack less than a quarter of a mile down the sand, where other kids were sitting and eating in an attempt to avoid getting high and going home reeking of weed. It didn't take me long to find Iris, who I had suspected _wouldn't _be there; she was sitting down by herself tapping on her phone's screen. I plopped down next to her with two burgers and stuck one in front of her, ignoring her surprised expression as I took a bite of my own. She smiled and accepted the (as I then discovered) one-of-a-kind burger.

"Having fun?" she asked brightly. Was she made of sunshine and rainbows?

Yes, yes she was, and she was the offspring of unicorns and had a leprechaun in her pants. Er…pocket.

"I was, until people stopped asking before they rubbed their crotch on me. Even the girls got started," I explained with a shudder. "I feel so violated."

Iris grinned. "I usually avoid the 'dance floor' when grunge music comes on. It's basically another word for 'grind'."

I was about to reply when a bloodcurdling scream ripped through the air. My mouth snapped shut and I spun around, searching for the source. My ears led me to the rock cleft, which was hardly visible by the bonfires built on the sand. Clambering to my feet, I squinted, seeing the outline of someone hanging from the cliff. The breath left my body. Thirty feet below them was a massive bonfire, and, instead of running for water to put it out, kids were standing around, pointing, and pulling phones out. My arms began to shake as I realized what was about to happen. Without warning, I sprinted in the direction of the kids hanging from the cliff—they only had one arms holding on now, and I could practically see their fingers slipping. Why wasn't anyone _doing _anything?

As I approached, the answer came to me. Standing at the top of the cliff, above the precariously swinging teen, stood a person, veiled in the dark, but not to the point where the bonfire couldn't light up her dark hair and menacing eyes. Just looking at her sent dread shuttling through me like a shot of adrenaline, and now everyone around me began to scream. The people on the rock platform tore at each other's clothes, or at least the remains of them, recognizing the threat before I could even comprehend what was happening.

But what did register in my mind was the sight of the person desperately trying to hold on to the cliff, and the ghostly woman raising her foot, a snarl twisted on her lips. The shrieks grew louder.

"_One of many to die for FORGETTING ME!" _the woman's voice, a hiss, but still a shout, sent my stomach into a roiling pit, as if it had pulled the strings in me to vibrate. My voice added to the nightmare of a chorus as her foot came down hard on the person's hand—clearly a girl. The fire flickered in one, last, blazing lick of gold and orange as I saw the terrified face above it.

And Capucine fell to the burning tongues of flame.

**Facebook time next chapter, please R&R.**


	4. Interval 1

**Please read: I've made a calendar in excel for my days to correspond to the actual date in **_**The Mercy Dance**_**, so that I wouldn't have to count backward on my fingers to get the day right in chronological order of the story, and I made a small mistake with the order of the cells. Chapter 1's date was Saturday, September 5****th**** and Chapter 2's actual date was Friday, October 2****nd****. I may or may not get around to fixing the date.**

**P.S. Capucine isn't dead. That would be...graphic.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own My Candy Love.**

**Interval 1**

_Saturday, October 3_

**Iris Darlene Ricart-Costa updated her status: **Please take a moment to pray for Sweet Amoris' dear student Capucine Facey, who was badly injured last night after tripping and falling into a bonfire. She was at the same party most of the student body had gone to and was a victim of circumstances. Thank you Adelaide Fierce and Kim Rip City Gravette for helping me save our dear friend and I truly hope that she will be better soon. We miss you, Capucine.

**Melody McConaway, Rosalya Beaulieu, Oriana Bott, Alexy Kohlberg, Michael Amoretti, Mary Ella Amoretti, Violette Rilke and 24 others like this.**

**Melody McConaway commented on Iris Darlene Ricart-Costa's status: **What happened to Capucine was horrible. Thank you Addie, Kim, and Iris for helping her, however you managed. She is in God's hands now.

**Michael Amoretti commented on Iris Darlene Ricart-Costa's status: **I was at that party but left early because I felt like something bad was going to happen. I'm really sorry to hear about Capucine and even more sorry that I hadn't stayed and been able to help. Hope she gets through this.

**Oriana Bott: **Capucine I hope u get better I luv u like a sis plz get well soon we miss u so much

**Adelaide Fierce commented on Iris Darlene Ricart-Costa's status: **Hope she's okay.

**Kim Rip City Gravette replied to your comment on Iris Darlene Ricart-Costa's status: **^This.

**BlackCandyHearts commented on Iris Darlene Ricart-Costa's status: **CAPUCINE WAS THE FIRST OF MANY. ANY WHO SHOW HER SYMPATHY AS THE BACKSTABBING, UGLY WHORE THAT SHE IS WILL BE THE NEXT.

**Adelaide Fierce commented on Iris Darlene Ricart-Costa's status: **Whoa, psychopath alert.

**Kim Rip City Gravette commented on Iris Darlene Ricart-Costa's status: **Don't make up threats you can't back up, hon. I don't think you're getting the attention you want.

**BlackCandyHearts commented on Iris Darlene Ricart-Costa's status: **IT WON'T BE LONG NOW.

_Thursday, October 15_

**BlackCandyHearts posted on your wall: **ON SATURDAY, OCTOBER 31ST, THE SECOND VICTIM WILL BE CLAIMED. IF YOU WISH TO CONTINUE LIVING YOUR PATHETIC LIVES DO NOT LEAVE YOUR HOME. YOU WILL BE SORRY IF YOU DO.

**Please R&R.**


	5. 4) Silence for the Forgotten

**Lilith's last name may seem unoriginal, but the genealogy behind it suits her. This chapter isn't particularly **_**exciting**_**, but is important for plot.**

**As one last note, sorry for slow updates. I'm really only super active (online) in the summer.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own My Candy Love. I never will. And, more importantly, every chapter I post a disclaimer in will say the same. Surprise. I also do not own Waldo, Fifa, or Twinkies.**

**Chapter 4—Silence for the Forgotten**

_Friday, October 30_

The news about "BlackCandyHearts" had burned through the school like wildfire, and if kids weren't staying home and sitting on their asses purely out of fear they were daring each other to spend the night in Meriwether Cemetery.

But did she seriously have to post that ominous message on my god damn _wall_?

I get on to the social network every three months at the most, and right when I do, I get some crazy person who is affiliated with whoever shoved Capucine off the cliff posting threats to other students on _my _wall. What was wrong with Amber's wall, for God's sake?

I sighed, trudging into my second period nearly ten minutes late, ignoring the glare the teacher sent my way. I'd slept in only five minutes late, but figured that I needed a holiday after barely two months of school and resolved to have Olga call me in sick. But then, I remembered promising Alexy I'd go shopping with him afterward, and if I asked him for a ride he'd make me reimburse him for the gas. And I really didn't want to waste what little money I had left. Olga had a car, but she wasn't supposed to take Charlotte or I anywhere if it wasn't previously arranged by Cadence or my dad.

Speaking of Charlotte, she didn't even _try _to wake me up so she could take me to school. Brat.

Which meant I ended up walking. And it was a very fun experience. I got slapped on the ass by a (very good-looking) skater as I was walking down the sidewalk to the school.

And then another one.

And another.

The fourth one I saw coming, so when he started to reach over as he passed, I stuck my foot out and hit his board, and, though it actually made my toe hurt, he tumbled to the ground in front of me. Smugly, I'd started to step over him, and then, what did he do? Smack my ass.

Proceeding to turn and kick him where it counted while his buddies stood at a _very _far distance and laughed, ignoring the string of profanities he directed at me, I'd gone back to walking to school before I realized Castiel had been on the other side of the fence watching the entire exchange. He'd skipped first period and was smoking a cigarette, which I found unattractive, and apparently was going to second. Why he even came on time to skip, and then to smoke on-campus, I didn't know—I figured he was confident that no one would give a particular shit or two. Then he saw the first kid hit me. And he was going to hold it over my head for a long, long time.

He hadn't said anything, just smirked and began to walk along the other side of the chain links with his egotistic, testosterone-filled air, amused at my expense.

Bastard.

"I'm sure you find that very funny," I had said. He'd glanced at me.

"Made my day," he'd replied.

After that, I'd been walking parallel to him, with that grey fence between us. "…Why do you smoke?"

He'd been quiet for so long I was sure he wasn't going to answer and that the fence would never end. "Why do you ask stupid questions?"

I'd scowled, seeing the wooden fence around the courtyard coming up. "It wasn't a stupid question."

"Why is Charlotte your sister?"

I'd stopped in my tracks, Castiel pausing a few feet ahead to look back at me. Then I'd grabbed the links in the fence, hauled myself up, swung my legs over, and dropped to the other side, walking right up to him so that our noses were almost touching. "She's not my sister," I had growled. I'd stepped around him and began to walk again, this time on courtyard side, when he was next to me.

"See, stupid questions."

"I don't understand the point you're making."

"You asked me why I smoked. I asked you why you're related to Charlotte. There's not a good answer to either. Which makes it a stupid question."

I'd rolled my eyes. "There's not an answer because I'm _not _related to Charlotte. We're associated by our parents' marriage."

He'd been quiet, and we were almost to the school doors. "Have fun living in hell."

"You have no idea," I'd said with a huff.

He didn't say anything after that, but there was something in his expression that told me he certainly had the gist of it.

So here I was. Yay. Fun.

When I dropped my binder onto the desk, I had hardly plopped down and grabbed a pencil to write in the learning target on my daily planner when something was chucked—hard—at the back of my head. I didn't have to look to know that Charlotte, in all her "gentle" glory, was trying to get my attention.

So, I ignored her, which resulted in pencil lead, erasers, bobby pins, and elastics being flung at me throughout the entire period. At one point, completely by accident, I'd poked a hole in the top of Armin's water bottle and squirted a constant stream of red Kool-Aid at her brand-new white blouse. I was going to get shit for that later (or now, it didn't matter with Charlotte—revenge was sweet regardless), but I was so pissed with having to comb through my long blond tresses to remove all the crap and de-straighten what little I had managed on the top layer that I wasn't concerned with any of it. Diagonally south of me, Charlotte had put her long legs and four-inch patent leather pumps to use and kicked me in the side of the ass.

As the bell rang and the kids swept papers and notebooks off their desks, Charlotte elbowed me forcefully, which I retaliated to with a knock-out swing of the hips. I was thin, but if there was one thing I was proud of, it was the shape—and destructive power—of my hips. She stumbled slightly, and by slightly I mean a lot, on her giraffe shoes, shot me a dirty look, and sashayed out of the room like she was _just that cool_.

When Kim told me the news, I felt a little guilty for stooping to Charlotte's level.

The body of one of Sweet Amoris High's students had been found in Siren River.

Apparently, it was a freshman, a depressed boy who had been being bullied severely over the course of his new school year. His name was Damian Cook, and, apparently, he had been in the same freaky cult as one of Sweet Amoris' late pupils, a girl who went by the name of Lilith Dark.

At lunch, a frighteningly cold atmosphere had settled over the cafeteria. Conversation was hushed, and, rather than go and sit in the depressing pit of morbid talk at my usual table with Iris and the others, I took my lunch, went to the courtyard, and sat down next to Lysander under the apple tree. He cast me a faint, but friendly, smile, then returned to scribbling something in his notebook. I'd taken to him, I admit; not romantically, but he was a comforting presence, warmth in all this damned fear and cold.

"What are you writing?" I asked, digging around for my Fuji apple. His, untouched, was a bloody red colour, making me conjure up an image of the description Kim had given me of Lilith's lips at Iris' house.

He didn't respond for a moment, then murmured, "Time…time…"

"Lime."

Lysander blinked out of his reverie and stared at me in confusion. "Lime?"

"Lime," I confirmed, studying my apple for bruises. When I found one, I made a face and dug my fingers under the skin, pulling the spoiled piece off and tossing it away from the two of us.

"What about limes?" he queried, vexed.

"It rhymes with time. Lime, lime, lime. Oh, look at the time. Lime!"

The corners of Lysander's lips twitched into a smile. "I don't think Castiel would be pleased playing a tune to the Lime Song."

I faced him and put on my best child-grumpy face. "What has he got against limes? It's because they're green, isn't it?"

He chuckled. "Actually, I rather like the colour green. I'm sure Castiel doesn't mind it."

I glanced down at my faded grey-green jean pants with a frown. "He didn't seem to mind this morning. At least, he wasn't glaring at my legs or anything, so that's good."

"I don't see why any guy would glare at your legs. Ogle? Maybe. But glare? Nah," said an unfamiliar voice. Lysander and I glanced up to be met with a tall boy, junior or senior, with a crooked grin.

"I'm Jett," he said, sticking a hand out toward me, "Jett Hallowell." I blinked, slow to process the information. When I accepted his hand, I was surprised to find him pulling me up off the ground; I stumbled a little, and he caught me.

And _then_ it registered.

Kim had told me that Jett was hot.

Understatement of the year.

He was _smoking_. Beyond sexy. Absolutely gorgeous. Through his long-sleeved t-shirt, rolled up to the elbows, I could practically feel with my damn _eyes _the chiseled muscles of his broad chest, which curved in an upside-down triangle to his hips, where dark-wash jeans hung low and suggestively. At the top, along his left hip bone, the rim of the pants had turned in on themselves, tucked against his body, leaving a miniscule strip of divinely smooth, caramel skin, and his teeth, blindingly white, with the spiky, ruffled toffee-coloured hair, and those incredibly soft brown eyes, rimmed by thick, lovely lashes…

I realized I was staring. Glancing nervously back at Lysander, who had a raised eyebrow sent in my direction, I turned back to Jett and smiled in my panic, unable to think of anything else. "Erm…I'm Adelaide Fierce. But you can call me Addie. Or Adelaide, if you prefer. It really doesn't matter to me. I like both." Oh, dear God, I was babbling. In response, Jett's grin widened.

Oh…my…he…he had…_dimples. _I was going to faint. My heart was currently endorsing itself in its childish pleasures and leaping about a bounce house with a unicorn on top of it squealing like a twelve-year old who had just been greeted by One Direction.

"Ha ha, okay, I guess I'll call you Addie, then. Oh, yeah, you're Charlotte's step-sister, right?"

Reality came barreling at me like a ten-ton anvil dropped from the top of the Eiffel Tower. Thankfully, I side-stepped it, but that didn't mean I didn't come crashing back to my senses. "Uh, yeah. I am." My gaze flickered over to the south doors of the courtyard, propped open, which led to the cafeteria. Amber's table was just visible through the opening, and I sucked in my breath, searching for Charlotte. Her eyes met mine just as they landed on her and, after surveying my position, her lips froze in the middle of a sentence and she dropped her fork, which had impaled a piece of pale green lettuce and a carrot. Li waved a hand in front of her face, but as it clanged against the table, it echoed in my ears like a bass drum, even across the distance between us.

I was so screwed.

Charlotte stood up abruptly, her eyes blazing with newfound hatred. She'd traded her stained blouse in for a purple baggy lace shirt she probably borrowed from Amber, her dark bandeau bra standing out far more than it had this morning. I pressed my lips together and tried to think of a logical explanation. Nothing came to mind. All I had been doing was eating lunch with Lysander! Jett had talked to _me_. Christ, she was acting like I'd kissed him!

I looked to Lysander pleadingly and mouthed "Help me," with the best puppy dog face I could muster.

He didn't have to do anything. For, thank the Lord for all that is good and holy (in this case, Castiel), here came the red-haired wonder, stalking toward us with his ear buds in. When he saw Jett standing in front of me, a shadow crossed his features, and he quickened his pace, if slightly.

Looking back at the cafeteria, I saw Amber's eyes widen as she lunged from the table, snatching Charlotte's wrist and hauling her back to the table in a spitting, clawing, catty frenzy, hissing something incoherent in her ear.

Okay, so in a way, I should've thanked the Lord or the universe or whatever for Amber's crush on Castiel, but I wasn't about to go back and give her recognition, petty as that was.

"Hey. Addie. You okay? You got really pale there." Jett grinned. "Although it doesn't make much of a difference with a pretty face like that." He brushed a thumb over my cheek, and I recoiled at Charlotte's murderous expression. Putting on a fake smile at his confused expression, I replied, "Yeah, I just—"

"If you're going to ask her out, you could do it without the whole bandwagon breathing down your neck," Castiel said grouchily as he approached, popping his ear buds out and into his pocket. He nodded past me. "They really seem to be getting a kick out of this."

I whipped around and saw the skaters from earlier this morning. There were six of them, three out of the four I'd seen grinning and pointing, the fourth glowering at me. Two others snickered and said something to each other I couldn't hear. I frowned. "This was a dare, wasn't it?"

"Uh…well, yeah…but I totally wanted to do it. You seem pretty nice." He offered me another one of his dazzling smiles, but he had lost his luster. I wondered what he really wanted. An easy target? Was I leverage? My frown deepened. Or maybe he was more curious about his ex than the rumors let on…?

"Hey, Addie, I didn't mean to hurt your feelings—" he started, gently wrapping his fingers around my wrist. I pulled away.

"It's fine," I replied coldly, the dismissal clear in my tone. I was surprised to see that Jett looked genuinely crestfallen. He glanced once at Castiel, his eyes suddenly hardening. "Well, okay, if you're sure…we should do something some time, anyway. I'll see you around, Addie. Lysander." He didn't offer Castiel a good-bye, and the other boy didn't look to be expecting it. He trudged away with one last irritated look in Castiel's direction.

I sighed and sat down next to Lysander again. I felt curious eyes on the side of my face and looked at him. "What?" I demanded.

Lysander furrowed his brow. "I dearly hope you aren't…boy-crazy…"

"Of course not!" I answered hotly. "It's not my fault for being a teenage girl with hormones!"

Castiel snickered.

I turned on him. "Don't even get me started on _you_. What the heck was that? You came out of nowhere and just decided to pull your bad-boy act and scare him off!"

Castiel scowled. "If I hadn't, Charlotte would have mauled you."

"We weren't even doing anything _remotely _offensive," I said defensively. "You were just jealous."

He looked stunned, and I saw a rosy blush dust his cheeks. For some strange reason, it made my heart pound and my own face feel hot. "That's bullshit," he muttered, but I noticed he couldn't hold my gaze anymore.

Lysander seemed to notice as well. He exchanged a glance with me, smiling knowingly, while I huffed and pretended to look annoyed.

"Whatever. I'm starving." Looking down, I found that my Twinkie was missing. Yes. I eat Twinkies. Deal, bro.

"Did you steal my food?" I inquired, wiggling my finger in Lysander's direction.

"Oh, I'm far too uncoordinated. I would look for the smaller, stealthier specimen."

I blinked, but before I could phrase a question in my mind, yellow cake crumbs fell into my lap. Looking up, a squirrel sat in the branch above my head, munching away on my beloved Twinkie. I glanced back down at the crumbs, my lunch bag, the crumbs, Lysander, the crumbs, Castiel, the crumbs, the squirrel, the crumbs, and the squirrel again.

I scowled. "You little shit."

* * *

In sixth period, the first thing the teacher did was give the class a new seating chart. And, unfortunately for me, I landed smack-dab in the middle of a Nathaniel, Castiel, Amber, and Charlotte sandwich. Needless to say, Nathaniel and Castiel were completely ignoring each other's existence, Amber was upset that I got to sit next to her crush (and that she had to sit next to me), and Charlotte was unsatisfied with not being close enough to kick me under the table. On the left side, next to the dusty old-fashioned curtains that made sure the room never saw the light of day, two tables were pushed together, which consisted of Nathaniel, Castiel, Addie (me), and Amber, respectively. On the right side, from the left over, Charlotte sat with some guy, and then there was Alexy, followed by Violette, whose attention seemed focused completely on her table partner, who looked more concerned with the boy next to him, who was ogling Charlotte's long legs, bared by her black miniskirt. I glanced at my own predicament. Maybe if Nathaniel was gay, Castiel liked me, and I was lesbian (I'm not, but even if I was, I would NEVER go for Amber…which solved that problem), it could work. Oh, I completely contradicted that sentence inside itself.

The class flew by, and, at the end, the teacher divided the tables into groups for a project. Apparently we were to research local folklore or myths and do a report about it. It was supposed to have an essay, a display, extensive background, sources, evidence, and an opinion from each group member on whether they believed the legend. It was due just before we got out for Winter Break, so we had plenty of time—however, there was a slight miscalculation in the teacher's idea.

"I am _not _being in the same group as her," Amber announced, crossing her arms and turning away from me.

"I don't know what I did to make you hate me, but I can't say I'm sorry," I grumbled.

"Miss Prescott, if you choose not to participate, then you will receive an F. So you had better shape up and get over your prejudices," the teacher droned. I practically fell asleep. A quick look at Castiel showed that he was almost in pain.

"What_ever_!" It's obvious that she won't get any work done! She'll just leave the rest of us to do all of it!"

"With the remaining three of you, I don't see how it's a problem. You can split the work fairly anyways. Besides, I don't believe I've received a late assignment from Miss Fierce. Perhaps you are mistaken…?" the teacher implied dryly.

"She did it in…in Trigonometry, in fact. She made me do all the problems and had the nerve to put her name on it!"

I waited a good five seconds before replying. "You wouldn't be talking about the time you looked for the answers in the teacher's guide and I used a separate sheet of paper, would you?"

"_And _she's a liar," Charlotte added helpfully. I flipped her off under the table.

"The female species is quite something, isn't it, Mr. Jenkins?" the boy next to Charlotte lamented. "I hear they even store fat for the winter!" He leaned past Charlotte and sent me a grin that spelled sarcasm. "Right, Addie?"

I blinked. "Oh. Yeah, totally. It's where the hips come from. In the summer they're way smaller. I have to get different sized jeans and everything," I said, baring my teeth in a smile and glaring pointedly at Amber, a look that screamed _switch your target._

He caught on. "Amber, you're looking a little bigger in that department…among other places."

She baulked. "Are you calling me _fat_?"

"That's not what I said, but I could care less how you interpret it."

I looked at Castiel. "Who is that kid? He's funny."

"If he knows you, probably a stalker."

I rolled my eyes. "Right. He knows my name, so he stalks me."

Mr. Jenkins glanced at the clock. "The bell is about to ring. You won't have time to work on this project in class, so I expect you all to organize something at one another's house or a venue of your choice."

Shuffling ensued, and we lined up at the door like kindergarteners on a Friday. Well, not in a literal line, it was more of a cluster, but you get the idea. Amber and Charlotte were gossiping and saying some rude things about Damian Cook, while the boy from earlier shot them a distasteful glare, wriggling through the crowd and pushing past Castiel to stand next to me. I ignored his glare and turned to the newcomer. "I've been in here two months and I've never seen you before."

"Oh, I had to get moved out of my other class because I got a restraining order against someone. I was in here yesterday." His hair was dishwater blond, eyes a dark shade of brown. He had a tall build and was wearing basketball shorts, a blue and red Fifa sweatshirt, white baseball cap, and white and red court shoes with those basketball socks pulled just above his ankles. I suppressed a laugh. He dressed like Aeron.

"You a basketball player?" I asked.

He nodded. "Yup. I'm in the basketball club, too."

"What's your name?"

"Waldo."

…I couldn't tell if he was serious with that neutral face, so I just nodded. After a few moments, he cracked a smile, which turned into a guffaw. "I kid, I kid."

"You kid," I repeated, letting out a relieved laugh of my own. "You're shitting me."

"Yeah," he affirmed. "My name's Zane."

"Okay, Zane. You look like you play baseball, too," I commented as the bell rung and we shuffled out of the room.

"Yep. I do football, even."

"So you're a jock?"

He laughed again. "Nah. I'm pretty grounded, if you feel me." I decided not to make that an innuendo. "What about you? Those legs look deadly."

"Attached to my deadly hips. And I used to play basketball and softball, same as you. Beach volleyball is fun, and I just plain suck at soccer," I disclosed.

"Gotta agree with you there."

"Anyway, that was pretty funny, what you did in Jenkins'. Amber's face? Priceless," I said.

"I know," he agreed. "Wish I'd said something about Charlotte. Little bitch thinks she's hot shit. Well, her legs are, but that's it."

"I guess you like women and their legs," I responded.

"Favorite part, besides what's in between them. Hey," he said at my wry smile, "I'm a dude. Not my fault, bra."

I snickered. He continued. "Are you doing anything tomorrow? Mostly everyone else is, but there are a few who are too scared to go out because of the whole thing with BlackCandyHearts. They're saying it's the ghost of one the schools' old students."

I remembered the girl standing over Capucine's dangling body, the crazed look in her eyes.

And stopped dead.

It had been hard to tell with only the bonfire's flame to guide my sight, but the girl's hair had definitely been dark, skin gray, as if bloodless. Had Lilith appeared on the cliff top that night? Or had someone thought it would be smarter to dress up as a missing, possibly dead, girl so they could avoid charges for attempted homicide?

The latter was far more likely, but remembering everything about that night made me shiver. There was no doubt the person who had showed up and pushed Capucine off the cliff was BlackCandyHearts, but what did she want? What was it she had said about people forgetting her? And was it coincidence that another student had been found dead the morning before?

"Helloooo, earth to Addie."

I frowned thoughtfully and knocked Zane's hand out of my face. "Sorry. I was zoning out."

"Apparently. You never answered my question."

"Halloween?" I confirmed. He nodded. "My friend Alexy is taking me with him to go shopping today. He'll probably end up buying me a costume. Never the gas, though," I added in an undertone.

"Huh. Michael Amoretti is having a Halloween party. You going?"

"I can't. I have to go with Charlotte and take her potentially demonic cousin trick-or-treating."

He looked confused for a moment, but then realization lit up his expression. "_Oh_. You're her new step-sister, aren't you? Can't say she says the nicest stuff about you in first period."

"Understandable."

"Why do _you _have to go with her?" he asked incredulously.

"My dad and her mom think that we need to spend some time together and establish a bond so we stop trying to shove each other down the laundry chute. Unfortunately, when I try to be the bigger person, she pushes me down the stairs instead."

"You're still in that phase, huh?"

I sent him a questioning look. "What do you mean?"

"'My dad, her mom'."

I scowled. "It takes getting used to. Her mom is a lot nicer than she is, though."

"_Understandable_," he mimicked. I sighed. I didn't say anything because I wasn't sure he didn't have a step-parent or the like, but I was doubtful.

When I got into Alexy's car in the parking lot, all he seemed to want to talk about was Damian Cook. I tried to tune him out, but he insisted on my response. "He was drowned, Addie! Somebody drowned him!"

"He probably fell in or committed suicide."

"If he did it himself, nobody would be talking about it, especially not me! As horrible as it sounds, people are only interested when there's a mystery involved."

I grit my teeth and told myself that Alexy didn't know any better. He didn't know how touchy I was about my mom's death. "Then tell me something. Why does no one talk about Lilith Dark? Nobody knows what happened to _her_, and it was recent, wasn't it?"

Alexy was silent for a moment. Then, softly, he replied, "Because nobody wants to remember fear."

The rest of the ride, until we reached Paris' Pursuits (Alexy didn't tell me we were going downtown to the most expensive freaking store in Sweet Amoris), Alexy chattered on about what colours would look best on me and, more importantly, him. But my mind was elsewhere. Was Lilith dead, or was she still alive, running around the graveyard at night, causing terror amongst the students of her school? I had never asked Kim or anyone else, but remembering the stricken faces, the people crying as the cops and ambulance pulled in, there was no doubt that someone-if not Lilith herself-had been recognized.

And most important of all, with the death of Damian Cook and attack on Capucine, was it possible that the students of Sweet Amoris were all in danger?

…Was _I_ in danger?

* * *

**Please review. Reviews make the heart grow fonder. And they help me update quicker. No reviews, no update, sadly.**


	6. 5) I Spy Addie

**This is starting to sound like Pretty Little Liars. I like that show, but it's not the vibe I'm aiming for. That's more realistic (in a way) and this…this deals with a bit more…of the **_**supernatural**_** (cue scary music).**

**Disclaimer: I no own My Candy Love, Alice in Wonderland, or Stephen King's masterpiece of a book **_**It, **_**which is now a freaky-as-hell movie.**

**Chapter 5—I Spy Addie**

_Saturday, October 31_

I can't say I'm exactly disappointed with the costume Alexy picked out for me. While I'd love to stay home and sit on my ass and yell at Beau to open the door (I trained him, it's very interesting to watch) with the candy bowl sitting on the front mat, this would be a sufficient second. We'd been debating between sexy Cinderella and sexy Alice—and, naturally, I'd decided on Alice because it was my favorite childhood story, one that my mother told me, read me, and watched with me countless times.

From the bottom up, I was dressed in four-inch, spiked, black Mary Janes, white thigh-high stockings decorated with a seven of hearts at the top with accompanying red hearts, the short, fluffy skirt of the dress, the tighter, lower-cut top, puffy sleeves, and white apron. Finally, I'd curled my waist-length white-blond hair into tight spirals, topped with a thick black ribbon that I had tied into a massive, Lady-Gaga-like bow after wrapping it once around my head so that it resembled the headband Alice wore in the movie. With a little more makeup than daylight would allow, I was ready to be the hottest teenage chaperone around (note the sarcasm).

Needless to say, Charlotte, who had dressed up as Little Red Riding Slut purely out of vanity, decided to comment on the probability of my death by falling down the rabbit hole. It was only fair that I pointed out her probability of death by a rapist with her black stilettos, fishnets, and flashy red corset. I'd never taken Charlotte to be the trashy type, but this was cutting it close.

Cadence threw a fit with Charlotte's costume, and Dad tried to talk me into _not_ dressing up this year. It was pretty much one of the most depressing moments of my life. And Charlotte's cousin? A complete angel. So sweet it was almost scary, and I suspected she was secretly a spoiled brat who was going to give me one hell of a night. She had the same light brown hair as Charlotte, except it curled around her head like a halo, and her eyes were vibrant green.

"You three be careful!" Cadence called as we slowly made our way down the steps. Charlotte's cousin, Tandy, was leaping around our waists and grabbing our skirts while squealing in excitement, which made the task all the more difficult.

"Tandy, stop doing that! You're going to make me fall," Charlotte snapped, while simultaneously checking her inbox.

"Don't be mean!" Tandy squeaked. She crossed her arms and looked to me instead. "You're my new cousin!"

I repressed the groan in my throat. "Yep," I replied meagerly. "I am."

Tandy beamed and took my hand. "I like you better. Charlotte's always mean to me, and she never plays Barbies with me!"

I cast Charlotte a dry look, and she returned one that said _now you know my pain._

"Well, Charlotte does seem to have a stick up her behind," I responded pointedly.

"Be careful what you say around her. She repeats things," Charlotte said smugly.

"So she's going to repeat that you have a stick up your ass?"

"No, but she might repeat profanity, and guess where she learned that?"

"But Char-Char, you taught me what bast—"

"_Okay_, Tandy, we get the point. And don't use those words anymore; you're going to make my mom give me a migraine if you don't stop."

"What's a migraine?" Tandy asked as we approached Charlotte's car.

"A really, really bad headache. Now would you please shut up?"

Tandy pouted again. "I don't want to go trick-or-treating with you. I want to go with Addie!"

"Convenient, you _are_ going with Addie."

"_Just _Addie."

I was starting to feel that migraine. "Is this how your treat your whole family? No wonder nobody's come to visit yet," I said as we clambered into the Prius. Charlotte snorted, her voice turning bitter. "They don't visit because of Lilith Dark."

I stilled after buckling the passenger seatbelt. "What do you mean?"

Charlotte didn't immediately respond, instead starting the car and punching the heater up a few notches. The nights were getting colder. "My mom's side is full of superstitious freaks. They're all crazy-religious . Like her mom," she said, jerking her head at the back seat, where Tandy was bouncing around, ignoring our talk. "And my uncle's a pastor. He seems to think that she's dead and her 'spirit' is evil."

"Why does he think she's dead?"

"More like 'when'. She disappeared in May, and the cops stopped looking for her a month ago."

"But _why_? Why would they just quit? Sometimes cases with runaways and kidnapped victims include decade-long searches," I pointed out.

"Inactive searches. They put it on a list of things with 'do laundry' and 'pick up milk', and wait for something interesting to turn up. With Lilith, it meant looking in Meriwether Cemetery, where she was seen last, and they went all the way to the river banks where it ended and found nothing."

"Then she would be alive. If she left nothing behind, it would mean she was alive."

"Addie," Charlotte said, and I realized it was the first time she had addressed me without an insulting pet name. "She _is _dead. I know she's dead."

"How?" I asked disbelievingly. "Was it some stupid conspiracy that you were in on?"

For a moment, she was silent, and I was afraid she was going to say yes and I would have to fling myself and Tandy out of the car. "Because she's silent."

I frowned. "Well, it's kind of hard to tell when you don't know where they are. They could be over the hill and through the woods, cussing you out to grandmother's house they go."

She reached into her bag, pulling out of the long driveway and turning onto West Madison Road, passing the brick sign on the way out of the area that read _Madison Place_, the name of the collective houses in the area forming a small neighborhood. But calling it by the name of the road made it more modest for me. Tossing me her phone, Charlotte said concisely, "Photo gallery."

I navigated to the area of concern, wondering what I was looking for. I scrutinized multiple pictures, freezing on one of her and Jett in a tight embrace. It looked like they were heading to a dance, and it couldn't be prom, seeing as she was a sophomore when she was dating him. Looking at her then, she was practically unrecognizable; undisguised happiness was etched into every corner of her expression, and Jett had the brightest smile I'd ever seen. The one he'd given me was nothing compared to this, and I wondered how such a stupid rumor could have shattered such a perfect-looking relationship.

Seeing the way Charlotte was glaring at me in the mirror, I guiltily began to sort through the photos, acting as if I'd seen nothing important, but I knew she wasn't fooled. "What am I supposed to be looking—"

_**You must think you're SO special, Cherry. Think you and Jett can last forever? Think again.**_

**Who are you? How did you get my number?**

_**I have connections. **_

**Who the hell are you? Why are you texting me, you freak?**

_**It doesn't take half a brain—even yours—to figure that out. Watch your back, sweetie. I'm coming for you.**_

She'd taken a picture of her text messages.

"Did you find them?"

"Find what?" Tandy quipped.

Charlotte ignored her. "That's Lilith."

I shook my head slowly. I don't understand. What does this have to do with her being dead?"

The Prius glided smoothly off Meriwether Road as we headed down another road towards Stonegate, the middle-class neighborhood where most of Sweet Amoris' students lived. The school was dark and abandoned as we passed it, and I couldn't gaze at the shadows cast by the streetlight for fear of a figure in the dark. "She has been sending me those texts for almost a year. The day she disappeared, she sent me a text that scared me so badly that I deleted it from my phone—"

"Charlotte! Are you kidding me? You should have gone to the police!"

She shivered, raw fear on her face. I remembered what Alexy had told me. _Nobody wants to remember fear._ "I couldn't. She knew too much…too much that would ruin my life."

I couldn't help but think of Amber. "Was she like this to everyone?"

"She was a heartless bitch, but for some reason I was the person she hated most. Everyone thought that it would be her and Amber—but it was me she was after. I don't know why."

I wondered if it had something to do with Jett, but I was afraid to bring it up. "So you think because you stopped getting these texts she's dead?"

"She stopped coming to school three days before she disappeared. And through that time span, I still got the messages."

"And what did the last one say? The one that scared you so much?"

Charlotte pulled the Prius over. Crowds of people littered the sidewalk, and just in those ten seconds I spotted several people from school. Glancing at Charlotte, I saw her hands trembling. "You know about Jett." Her voice was flat, like she didn't have to ask, although it wasn't phrased like a question.

"I know he was your boyfriend."

She looked at me. Really looked at me, for the first time in my life, as someone she knew, not an obstruction standing in her path that she couldn't seem to get rid of. Almost like a sister. "She threatened to kill him."

My heart nearly stopped. "_What?_"

"She told me that if I didn't break his heart, then she would kill him."

"What are you guys _talking _about? It sounds so _boring_," Tandy sighed dramatically. And just like that, the moment was over. Charlotte rolled her eyes and pulled the key out of the ignition. "Get out, you little brat."

Tandy squealed happily and leapt out of the car in her angel costume, smacking her wings against the top of the car as she went. Before exiting, Charlotte leaned over the center console and, in a venomous voice, said, "Tell anyone about this, and you're dead."

When I got out, I took Tandy's hand and started maneuvering through the crowd, ignoring Charlotte's annoyed cry. "Where are you going?"

"I knew you were going to ditch me." I hooked a thumb at the house down the street behind me. "That's Mary and Michael Amoretti's place, right? Have fun." I didn't look back, just guided Tandy up to the first doorstep, where other children, teens and parents tried to fit on the porch. She swung her pillowcase around gleefully, hitting a few other people in the process. I didn't apologize.

"I'm so excited! Halloween is my second favorite holiday," she said, grinning.

"Let me guess. Christmas is your first?"

"How'd you know?"

I smiled. "Psychic."

When a middle-aged woman came and opened the door, a skinny little blond boy pushing his way past Tandy and I to the front of the crowd, I felt a soft tug on the back of my skirt and scowled. I was expecting it to take longer before I had to shove my four-inch heel up some unfortunate jackass' rear end. But when I whipped around with my fist raised, I was met with innocent brown eyes and a baseball cap.

"Whoa, sorry, I didn't think you were sensitive to that sort of thing," Zane amended. He was totally costume-less.

"Lame," I said, echoing the thoughts in my mind, giving him a disapproving once-over. He threw up his hands in protest. "Hey, I'm here with the little shithead," he said, pointing at the blond boy, who was trying to sneak some candy out of Tandy's. She gave him a good whack with it, shrieked, and hid behind my legs. The blond boy mumbled something unflattering and returned to Zane's side, rubbing his cheek.

I raised a brow. "He's going to be a pervert when he grows up."

Zane cast him an awry glance. "Already is. He's eyeing your legs right now. Wait…now he's on your chest," he relayed, making no effort to hide the fact that he was looking at it too.

"Eeeewwww." Tandy made a face. Looking between her and the blond boy, I asked Zane, "Want to keep us company?"

"Charlotte skip out on you?" he inquired as we left the house, Tandy shooting the blond boy nasty glares.

"Yep. Went to Michael's party."

"Understandable."

"Is that your new ammo against me?"

"I've got better than that, if you'd like," he replied, wiggling his eyebrows suggestively. I shrugged. "Sorry. My dad's given me an invisible chastity belt for the night. With spikes."

"Probably thinks that creepy old rabbit is going to be a little too preoccupied with those legs." He paused, staring at them. "Damn, you have nice legs."

I laughed. "Thank you."

The next house we came to, the candy bowl was on the front porch, and even though there was a TAKE ONE sign, I made a point of grabbing fistfuls and stuffing them in Tandy's bag, Zane's brothers' bag, my bra, and Zane's pants (don't worry, I meant his pockets). He frowned. "You're a rebel."

"She pretty, I like her," someone whispered behind us. I grinned at Tandy. "You have admirers, Tandy."

"Really?"

The next house was dark, although the porch light was on, and a skinny, uncomfortable-looking freshman was sitting in a lawn chair, holding a bowl of candy. I stalked right up to him and asked if someone was paying him.

"Um…I'm not supposed to do anything except give you candy, so…" He held up the bowl awkwardly.

"What the hell? Why don't they just turn their porch light off or something?" Zane asked incredulously.

"Uh…because last year his house got egged…and…I'm supposed to stop people from ringing the doorbell."

I took one look at the poor, obviously freezing boy, and rang the doorbell.

And guess who answered the door?

Castiel leaned against the doorjamb, clad in jeans and a t-shirt, and turned his head to get a good look of the porch. The freshman was petrified, although the older boy couldn't have looked any less dangerous at the moment; he appeared bored, and slightly sleepy. "The kid's there for a reason," he said lazily.

I glared at him. "He looks like he's freezing!"

Castiel's bored expression hardened. "Am I supposed to know you or something? Because you're starting to piss me off."

I got right up in his face with an equally intense glare and said, "Yeah, I ask you stupid questions, remember?"

He leaned back slightly, scrutinizing me. "Addie?"

I suddenly felt a little self-conscious as his gaze traveled up my legs, so I pulled Tandy in front of me, but that only made his focus switch to my low-cut sweetheart neckline. I flinched as he reached toward it, and before it could register in my head that I wanted to bat his hand away, he'd pulled a Hershey kiss from my top. Freaking awesome.

"Huh. So this is why girls don't carry around those big-ass purses anymore."

I crossed my arms, but that didn't help the boob problem, so I dropped them to my side again. "You're paying this kid to sit here and give people candy?"

"That's _genius_," Zane's cousin lamented. I noticed he was right next to me, and with the heels I was wearing, he could stand under my skirt and see right up if he glanced in the skyward direction. Scowling, I kneed him in the side, none too lightly, and he stumbled into the wall, glaring at me. Castiel smirked.

"Yeah, because I don't want to have to do it and if I turn the lights off, people will bother me anyway." Past Castiel, I could see the hallway, one side of which extended into the living room immediately to my right, where I could hear familiar screams coming from the TV.

"Is that Stephen King's _It_?" I asked, trying to peek inside. "I love that movie. It scares the shit out of me every time."

Castiel shifted his weight and leaned against the doorframe, blocking my view. "Yeah. Are you done yet?"

For some reason, I smiled. "No. I wanted to show you my costume, but you don't seem interested." I put on a pouty face for good measure. Zane sighed heavily behind me, probably bored.

"It's hard for a girl to look interesting when there's a pair of brats standing next to her. That coupled with another guy tells me that you're a bit busy for an affair."

"What are you—oh, him?" I said, pointing at Zane, who's face darkened. "We're just friends." I glanced down at Tandy, tugging softly on one of her cherub curls. See, this one I actually like. Now _that _one…"

"is checking out your ass."

I wheeled around, but before I could smack the culprit, Zane had picked him up and thrown him over his shoulder. "Do it again one more time and we're going home," he threatened.

"You're just mad because I saw lace and you didn't!"

I frowned and looked at Tandy. "I don't remember wearing lace. Was I wearing lace? I thought it was just plain cotton."

Tandy shrugged. Seeing Castiel's irritated expression, I resolved to leave as ASAP. But first, I snatched the candy bowl away from the freshman, giving it to Tandy. "Write a death note involving serial killers on the door. In red spray paint. Then put a trail of chocolate syrup leading under the doorjamb. It worked for us last year." At his questioning glance, I explained, "The neighbors were evil." I turned and headed down the steps, past Zane, who seemed to be having no trouble hauling his brother. Tandy, after depositing Castiel's candy in her bag and handing him the bowl, skipped down after me.

"Addie."

I twisted around. Castiel was smirking. "You should show those legs more often. They're deadly."

"Told you," Zane chuckled.

I rolled my eyes and shook my head, but my neck was burning. Pretending to be cold, I hugged myself, hunching my shoulders in the process, but nobody bought it. A minute later, the freshman went cartwheeling down the driveway like he'd just won the lottery. I snickered. "He really must scare people shitless."

"Addie," Tandy said in a sing-song voice, which made me wince, "he's _cute_."

"Well, Tandy, if you like him, ask him out," I replied distractedly. Turning my attention to Zane, I asked, "What's that brat's name?"

"Brian."

"Pervert," I muttered. As we turned the corner, I felt a strange, chilling sensation, like someone was watching me. There were plenty of people milling around, but this was different. Like someone who couldn't be seen was seeing _me_.

Glancing behind me, I saw no one and nothing out of the ordinary, just the occasional wailing little kid running down the sidewalk. I rolled my shoulders, something I did when I was nervous. Then I started playing with my hair as we walked, ignoring Zane's curious stare.

"What's up with you? You're acting like you're trying to dance to 'Jump On It' in a straightjacket."

I looked over my shoulder again, grabbing Zane and Tandy by the arm as I caught a flash of black hair in the crowd behind us.

I knew it.

For the next hour, I kept us in the most crowded part of Stonegate, revisiting houses, even, knowing that the residents wouldn't recognize us amongst the hoard of people that mobbed their doors. Tandy protested heatedly, and Zane was looking a little annoyed, but eh second time I saw the black hair, right when I was going to give in and take Tandy somewhere else, I decided it was time to go home.

"Tandy, you can't fit anything else in there. You're going to have enough candy to last you until Easter, and that's if you devour it like I do chocolate," I reasoned as she wailed in complaint. Zane laughed. "Okay, as much as I hate to admit it, I'm a little tired. And the brat is falling asleep."

Brian snored lightly, causing Zane to cringe. He held Brian's candy bag, being kind enough to gather his candy as the sidewalk had been confiscated from him.

We had nearly returned to the corner where the Prius was parked, and I was about to call Charlotte (or go get her, if all else failed), when Tandy pulled away from me and stared back the way we came. The throng of people was slightly less, but enough for someone who didn't want to be seen to hide in their shadows. Before I could look back, she whipped around and slammed into my side, hugging me tightly.

"Addie," she whimpered. "There's a girl over there and she's scaring me. She was glaring and she looked really mean. Make her go away!"

I was almost too scared to check, but one, small, fleeting apercu to the sidewalk behind us revealed Little Red Riding Hood with the eyes of the Big Bad Wolf standing blatantly in the crowd, which split and weaved around her with a noticeably quicker pace. Our eyes met briefly, hers malicious, glinting silver, and then I saw her blood-coloured lips.

It didn't take long to put two-and-two together. Lilith Dark or not, by the girl's twitching smile and vicious glower spelled trouble. "Zane," I addressed him, although his eyes were locked on the girl, a strange emotion—fear—clouding his brown orbs. "I need to find Charlotte. Stay here with Tandy." I made off down the pavement, heading for Michael Amoretti's house on the corner. Looking back, the girl had disappeared, but I still felt the sensation of eyes on my back. My feet picked up speed.

It was a party, so I didn't have to ring the bell or knock—the door was wide open, though I had to squeeze past a couple trying to eat each other. Once inside, I despaired; there were so many Little Red Riding Hoods that my vision swam with red, reminding me of those vivid lips. I shuddered and started forward, peering closely at every hooded girl (and transgender) I passed. The chills were stronger here, like she was closer.

After searching the bottom level, and waving off Mary Amoretti as she exclaimed a surprised greeting, I went up the steps, holding my skirt down with one hand and balancing myself with the railing on the other. They were spiral stairs, which I despised going up or down in heels. I usually put my shoes on after leaving the top floor where my room was specifically for that reason, unless they were flat-soled. I accidently barged in on Michael and some senior while they were in a very…tight spot, but they didn't notice me, so I left. Definitely one of Stonegate's bigger houses, but not so large that I should have trouble finding my step-sister. Where could she be?

I went back downstairs, doing one last thorough search before walking out the front door. And then I froze.

Zane was gone.

Tandy was gone.

I swiveled in a perfect circle. The streets had emptied. Nothing lingered but the flickering streetlights, and I shivered. Charlotte's Prius was still there, on the curb, but now Tandy was gone.

_Think rationally_, I reminded myself. _Zane probably took her somewhere safe. _Like where? To a random stranger's house? Had he taken her home? I hadn't been looking for Charlotte that long.

I giggle caught my attention. I turned toward the hedge bordering the back of Michael and Mary Amoretti's side lawn and saw leaves rustling. "Tandy?" I asked meekly. Another giggle.

I prayed that I was not looking at my future in the world's greatest real-life horror movie and hesitantly approached the hedge. "Tandy, come out of there," I said, more firmly. Silence ensued. I began to lose my nerve. "Tandy, Zane, I don't know what you're pulling, but you need to stop."

"_Addie!"_

"Tandy?" My voice pitched. "Tandy, are you okay?"

The little girl shrieked like a banshee. "Addie! She's going to get me!"

It took me five seconds to rip the Mary Janes off my feet and bolt across the lawn and over the hedge, where I was met with the sinister tree branches that belonged to Siren Woods. I was at the edge of Stonegate, but I didn't think twice about leaving civilization behind. I could still hear Tandy's screams as I slapped and flailed as my legs took me deeper into the forest, breaking the branches that hissed at my ears and raked their claws along my cheeks.

A sharp crack and a terrified shout resounded not far ahead of me. Another, then another. Gunshots, undeniably. I pumped my arms and gasped in frigid autumn air. There had been an orange moon earlier, but it had been shielded by dark clouds, and everything was a blur.

Something darted out of the bushes in front of me with a childish cry, and I toppled over it, landing heavily on my side. Tandy's face was streaked with tears as she at first, scrambled away, before recognizing me and locking me in an anaconda's hug. She wailed, and I desperately tried to shush her and tell me what happened. All I got was that the girl—the one that I was certain must be Lilith Dark—was chasing she and Zane through the woods. How they had managed to wind up in them, I didn't know, but I also didn't have time to ask.

I gripped Tandy's shoulders tightly. "Listen to me. I need you to be a big girl and do me a big, big favor, Tandy."

"I don't want to be a big girl! I want to go home!"

"We can't go home unless you do this for me." I pointed the way I had come. "I need you to run as _fast as you can _in that direction. You'll see a hedge—is that the way you got here?" The girl nodded. I set my jaw grimly. I was going to have to get that out of her later. "Once you get to that hedge, go over it or under it, however, and go straight to the phone. If you see anyone you know, even Charlotte, wait until you've called the police before talking to them. It's crucial that you do this."

Tandy nodded. It was a horrible pressure to put on a seven-year-old, but I had no other choice. Another gunshot screeched in the night, and Tandy whimpered. "You can do this," I told her. "Go, quick. I'll be okay."

She took off, and I felt a small stir of pride that I was now the cousin of such a brave little girl. She reminded me of when I was younger, the times I used to sit in my bean bag and wait for the monsters to crawl out from under the bed so I could whack them with my frying pan and scold them for eating innocent people. But yet another shot interrupted my reverie, and I sprinted in that direction, telling myself that I was stupidly heading towards someone who was armed and deadly, while I had nothing but a big black bow in my hair and a friend to find.

After a few minutes, I noticed the silence, which my aching legs responded to with progressively slower strides, until I came to a stop, trying to muffle my loud breaths, only for them to explode out of me a few seconds later. I looked around myself uneasily. Horror movies had never deterred me from walking down a hallway with mirrors in the dark, but I could feel the guile of this place. I took a step forward, straining my ears, and my feet met stone. I frowned. My stockings were ripped, the bottoms of my feet bloody, and in the clearing ahead of me strange, incoherent markings were tangible, even in the shadowed world. I strained my eyes, but even a closer inspection would not get me much.

And then I felt the chills again. This time, there was no crowd, no one standing near me, no sense of comfort but my living heart—which pounded relentlessly. I could practically smell my own fear. Thinking I saw a flash of red, I whipped my head back and forth, panic beginning to set in.

A police siren roared in the distance, but my relief was short-lived. Zane, rumpled, dirty, and oozing blood from somewhere on his shoulder, came barreling out of the bushes, scaring me so badly that I almost fell back on the paved clearing. He screamed my name, told me to run, but I saw nothing behind him, nothing to run from. He crashed into me, wrapping his arms around my waist and turning so sharply that my head swam, reversing our positions.

And then I saw her. The crazed look in her eye. Things didn't go in slow motion like I always thought they would in such a situation—I hardly saw the gun in her raised hand before it went off. Zane and I tumbled down, and the last thing I saw was the moon peeking out of the cover of the clouds, with a sheen of thunder cloud grey coating it, bringing me odd, momentary warmth before I blacked out.

* * *

When I woke up, my dad's verdigris gaze was all I saw, but for a few brown spirals in the corner of my peripheral vision. A familiar cry met my ears, ricocheting of the walls in my head, and I felt the sharp bite of an autumn breeze. Senseless noise came to me, making my head throb. I groaned.

"Oh, Addie." I could hear the tears in Dad's voice. "My little girl…"

I couldn't remember anything. Dad tried to tell me not to move, but when it all came rushing back, I turned my head towards those brown curls; but instead my eyes flickered to the body bag a few feet away from the stretcher I was laid out on.

I shrieked, tearing upward and literally falling out of the cot as I scrambled toward it. I could tell there was a body inside. It couldn't be. It couldn't. He'd been protecting me.

"Addie?" Zane croaked. I wheeled around, head spinning, and saw him situated on the cot next to mine. I didn't breathe, because I couldn't understand who was in the body bag.

"It's okay," he said roughly. "It's not someone you know." I saw the bandage around his abdomen, and a patch of blood stained it, as well as the one around his shoulder. There were, from what I could see, ten small bruises on his neck, some of which were topped with what looked like specks of blood. As if someone had dug their fingernails into the skin.

A man in a white uniform came over and tried to make me lie down, but I refused, the most I would do being to sit, and they handed me a cup of water. I noticed the accumulating crowd, seeing Charlotte standing in the premises of the yellow tape. She had a hand over her mouth, and was looking at me…gratefully? I wasn't sure. Amber and Li stood off with the spectators, the former looking sick. They must have been at the party.

A tuft of something brown and furry somehow landed under my chin, and something wet trailed down my chest. I wrapped my arms around Tandy, more for my own comfort than hers. "I did what you told me to do," she hiccupped, looking up at me. "I went and called the cops. I had to go to the cute boy's house because nobody would let me use the phone like you said they would. He called them and they came and you and Zane are okay, and Char-Char's okay, and we're all okay, and…" She burst out crying again, and I cradled her head. Dad stood near me, looking like he wanted to be the one hugging me, when I registered what Tandy had said.

"The cute boy, Tandy?"

"Castiel," said Zane hoarsely. "She went and got Castiel."

I glanced again at the crowd. And my eyes locked on his. There he stood, wearing a jacket that he probably wouldn't have donned under normal circumstances, shoulders hunched and looking at nothing but me. I blushed, trying to hold his gaze. All I saw were those stormy eyes. Like thunder clouds.

Someone stepped in front of me, blocking my view of him, their pen poised against the paper. I was suddenly bombarded with questions, realizing that this was a reporter. I scowled and told him to go away, upset that I couldn't stare at Castiel a little longer, inappropriate as that was at the time. But, surprisingly, he came to my rescue, ducking under the tape and giving the man a colourful threat in my defense. The policeman nearby glared at us, but didn't stop to tell him to leave.

Tandy beamed at him. "That's him, Addie! That's the cute boy! He saved you and Zane, he really did!"

At first, he seemed to think that my red face at the term "cute boy" was funny, but when Tandy turned to give him a big bear hug, he didn't look quite as amused. I wanted to say something, but there was a nagging sensation in my gut, like I should be remembering something.

"Brian!" I gasped. "Where's Brian? Did they find him?"

"Relax," Castiel said gruffly. "They found him. He was fine. Hiding under tree roots or something. Scared shitless, but he wasn't injured. They got more out of him than these two," he explained, attempting to nod in the general direction of Tandy and Zane, with difficulty, as the former was wrapped around his waist with an almost perverted smile.

"What…happened?"

Dad cast me a concerned gaze. "Addie, do you really not remember anything?"

"I do," I insisted. The first thing I wanted to say was that Lilith Dark had tried to shoot me—but a glance at Zane told me that he was thinking something else. I suddenly doubted myself. What if it had just been a random psycho? "I…I remember going to look for Charlotte. I thought Zane and I were being followed, so I went to find her…" I trailed off, sending Tandy a querying look. The girl seemed slightly guilty.

"I'm sorry," she said. "She was glaring at me, so I got scared and just ran—"

"Addie!" Cadence flung herself through all of us, rudely pushing Castiel out of the way, who snorted with irritation. Her arms were around my neck and she was sobbing, while I tried to transform my inquisitive frown into a comforting smile.

Fail.

"I was so worried—and your father—"

Yeah, my dad. And you? The woman who owns the house I live in. Nothing more. Castiel began to walk away, looking like he had wanted to say something, but was unable to with the crowd. Quickly, I hopped off the cot, detaching myself from Cadence, and brushed past Dad like it was completely natural, although my head was killing me. "Where are you going?"

"Home," he said, striding closer to the caution tape. I picked up my pace, stepping in front and blocking him. I could see the paramedics begin to move Zane onto the ambulance, a few of them hustling over to me so they could send me on my way to check for damage. I hesitated, then realized their proximity, and tripped up when I saw how close we were. "Uh…thanks. I mean, for, you know, calling the cops…"

He pulled that arrogant smirk, and I scowled. "You're welcome. And if you don't get in that ambulance they're going to strap you down."

I rolled my eyes. "I know, I know." But even as he brushed past, the two of us turning so that our bodies never faced away from the other until he was walking away, I hovered there, unable to deny the thrum in my chest until they dragged me back to the stretcher.

Unfortunately, the moment died quickly, and a just one, dreadful look at the police told me something I had hoped wouldn't have happened.

They had not caught my attacker. Which meant one thing—they would be out for round two.

* * *

**Reviews make the world go round. No review? No update. Not to sound like a bitch. More like a boss. But view+review=update.**

**I honestly think Alice in Wonderland would be cutest as a Lysander thing (Castiel strikes me as more of a Little Red Riding Hood kind of guy), but Addie fit the physical appearance better. **


	7. 6) Drop Your Guard

**Check out my chibi drawing of Addie and Castiel on deviantART! Search LurvDerp or follow the link on my profile page. It's incredibly cute. And while you're at it, leave a comment or something. It's like a wasteland in there.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own My Candy Love.**

**Chapter 6—Drop Your Guard**

_Monday, November 2_

After the pandemonium that had occurred Saturday had passed and I had been released from the hospital, Tandy had gone home with her very concerned aunt. She'd glowered at me whenever she could, even yelling at me at one point for putting her daughter in danger. And, rather than handle it like and adult, I'd turned around and insulted her parenting skills. I don't recall exactly what I said, but it was something along the lines of "child neglect".

And don't even get me started on her daughter. During the ambulance ride, Tandy developed an obsessive crush on Castiel and chattered endlessly about him, sparking Dad's curiosity, which was even worse. He'd drilled me on who he was, how I knew him, why he dressed like a punk, blah blah blah…and what does Tandy jump in and say? "He likes Addie's legs! He said so! He said she could hurt people with them."

I'd winced and tried to ignore Dad's look, but he was going to want answers at some point, and he got them, eventually. While Sunday was spent trying to make me comfortable while Charlotte locked herself in her room, Monday, Dad made _both _of us stay home and explain the events before the police came around, since they hadn't already. I told him what had happened to me, and he filled in the blank spot where I had gone looking for Charlotte; Tandy had run into Siren Woods in a panic and Zane had followed her. Apparently, Zane had said that he noticed the girl following them and hid Brian under some tree roots, where they found him later. She'd pulled a gun out later and chased him, so he lost track of Tandy, but heard my voice calling for her. Dad told me that Zane thought that the girl—who I'm convinced was Lilith—had been after me all along, because after trying to shoot him a few times, and grazing his shoulder with one of the shots (lovely), she'd left him alone, stopped chasing him.

When I broke in and told him that Lilith Dark had been the girl with the gun, in her red cape and black clothing, with the scarlet lips, he stared at me doubtfully. "Are you sure, Addie?"

"Of course I'm sure!" I snapped. "She matched all the descriptions my friends gave me." I turned on Charlotte, lips pressed into a thin line and hands clasped together to stop them shaking. "She had black hair and grey eyes! She wore red lipstick! How can that not be her?"

"Addie," Dad said softly. I looked at him. His eyes were troubled. "They found a body that night."

I thought of the body bag I'd seen, the faint shape of someone underneath its rough covering. I'd been afraid it was Zane. "Yeah. I know."

"Do you know who they found?"

I glanced at Charlotte. Her composure was hardly being held together. I couldn't understand why—the fact that Lilith had resurfaced? "No," I said, tearing my eyes from her. "I don't."

"It took them a while to identify her. Through an extensive search of Siren Woods, they found her on the shore of the Siren River, on the cemetery side. They said her name was Lilith Dark."

* * *

_Tuesday, November 3_

Upon arriving at school, I was showered with gushing apologies, grievances, and gifts, but none of it could lift my mood. If students weren't talking about Zane and I, they were talking about the body of Lilith Dark. _I knew it_, some would whisper, or _she wouldn't have been so quiet if she were alive_. None suspected kidnapping, or Lilith being a victim of consequences; they tarnished her memory without a second thought, and it seemed that even after everything she'd been through, Capucine's talk was the worst. She just couldn't stop telling everyone about what a sick, two-faced loser Lilith was.

If I had just been able to see the body, verify that it was the same girl who stalked me on Halloween. Had I made my assumptions too quickly? Was it somebody else? Or had she died so suddenly after trying to kill me—something that happened during the moments I blacked out? I touched my bruised head gingerly. There was a faint line of purple along the corner of my forehead, though the bruise spread much farther. I'd landed on the stone with strange markings, Zane on top of me—what about _those_? Were they even worth mentioning? They could have been anything in that dark, hieroglyphs, a mural, even a gang sign. But were they relevant?

Too many questions that needed answering. I deserve them, I reasoned, because some crazy bitch tried to shoot me. Scratch that, self-pity is never the way to go. What were the chances Dad would let me go back to the forest where I was attacked and check the area out? Slim, to none. I'd have to sneak out. He was keeping a close watch on me as of late.

It was incredibly ironic that on my way to class Castiel should bump into me and knock my coffee out of my hands. I watched it fall, the foam cup breaking as the brown liquid splattered across the floor. I sighed. I'd barely had two sips because it was so hot. "You bring bad luck," I mumbled, ignoring every thought of Saturday night. I gazed at the spilled coffee forlornly.

"You're just neurotic," he replied, despite my lack of emotional response. I sent him a wry look, but he didn't seem to notice it, or chose to ignore it. "C'mon. I'll get you a new one."

"What's this?" I gasped dramatically, placing a hand over my heart. "Castiel, offering to reimburse me? What a gentleman."

"Don't push your luck," he threatened, "or you'll get nothing."

"Definitely witchcraft," I stage-whispered, but followed him out the doors. We had enough time to go downtown to the Forum (**;P**), a bistro down the street. I lied and told him I'd gotten a large, even though I'm pretty sure he knew it had been a medium, but he bought it for me without complaint. I frowned at his back, trying to figure him out as we left. Taking a sip, I found that the white chocolate mocha was wondrously sweet.

He glanced at me, and I held the cup in front of my lips, so that they weren't visible, and smiled. I wanted him to see the crinkle of my eyes, and by the light snort he emitted, I guessed he had. I walked next to him until we got back to school, every brush of our shoulders sending an electric shock through me, and we ended up being late. Neither of us cared, much, although the teacher told me flat out that she wasn't going to mark me absent. At lunch, Kim remarked that she wished she had been shot. I reminded her that it was Zane who had gotten hurt, waving away her gesture to my head, telling her that it wasn't funny. She then took the liberty to tease me about him. It was actually annoying, so I left, food sitting abandoned on the table, with Iris' sad eyes following me. That was even worse; I didn't want, nor did I need, anyone's pity.

"It's like everybody completely forgot about Damian and Capucine," I said bitterly. "It's all about what happened to Zane and I or trash about Lilith. I've never been one for empathy, but imagine how she would feel if she knew what kind of slander people branded her with? She _died_—how can they wake up in the morning and look at themselves in the mirror after saying those things?"

Lysander regarded me morosely, a different kind of sorrow than what swirled in Iris' eyes. "You're right. It's a despicable thing to name someone's memory after all the bad in their life instead of the good, but Lilith Dark was not a liked person. I would never say anything that negatively influenced her legacy, but others are not so sympathetic, specifically the victims of her abuse. She had the ears of a bat and the tongue of a snake, and the only language she spoke was poison. Her heart had shriveled and blackened with every new enemy made, but there were times when Lilith was just another, with pressures and grief that consumed her."

I poked him in the arm. "You just negatively influenced her legacy. And gave her a speech. The kind that they make at a funeral. Except you were a little more liberal with it than most would be."

"I don't know," Lysander considered. "Based on your observations, I'd think they weren't concerned with niceties when it came to last words."

"I don't even think they will give her a speech. Or a funeral." I could feel my drained body shake. "Did anyone care?"

"Her parents, perhaps."

Her parents. Lilith Dark's parents. "I wonder what they're like. If they're still in town. If they were mean to her, it would explain her behavior."

Lysander frowned disapprovingly. "I believe you're becoming too accustomed to things that should be left alone, Addie."

"But just think about it," I pleaded. "It could explain something about who she was, why she died. And, more importantly, how she died."

"'What thou care killed a cat, thou hast mettle enough in thee to kill care'," Lysander quoted. "Curiosity is dangerous."

I scowled, and crossed my arms. It was starting to get cold, a brash wind buffeting my white-blond locks while the remaining leaves of the apple tree whispered a hushed melody, singing to their dying days and praying for a lush life reborn. "When it lives without satisfaction, yes." I paused. "But if it lives forever, the danger will be forever."

"What if she had a _reason_ to hate—not necessarily justified, but the cause for all of it? And don't you think that it has something to do with her death?"

Lysander sighed and closed the book that had been splayed out in his lap. "I generally try not to associate myself with these things." He gave me a serious look. "But if I did, I would say that Lilith Dark is more dangerous dead than she is alive."

* * *

The rest of the day was comparably dull, with me trying to rearrange my group; even at my explanation of Castiel and Nathaniel's Cold War, Mr. Jenkins was unsympathetic and doomed me to suffer between them and Amber. During the last ten minutes of class Mr. Jenkins let us work with our groups, so I attempted to deal with our dysfunctional one. I suggested Amber and I separating the work times with the boys, so they wouldn't be around each other and could still share data and research, but Amber wasn't willing to do anything with me around. She offered to work with Castiel and Nathaniel separately in accordance to the plan—but protested when I explained that that would mean I worked with both of them, and the idea of Castiel alone with me coupled with the same concept with her brother was repulsive to her. So we went back to my version. Then, we were faced with what legend we wanted to pursue; I don't think Nathaniel was thrilled with the project itself, and none of us had any idea of what to use. As a matter of fact, any legend we did research on would likely be done by many other groups, as I was fairly sure Sweet Amoris' history didn't consist of many myths. Even so, I made a point of taking a trip to the library after school to find a good topic.

I went back as far as possible, the earliest archive dated in the 1800's. I was browsing what looked like journals, pulling out the very first one I saw. After flipping through a few pages, snatching a few interesting bits here and there to store in my brain, I put it back. The second one was more entertaining, detailing the creation of a new town—Chorus.

I frowned. Either these are the wrong archives, or Sweet Amoris didn't always have a sugary name. I flipped the page. I didn't know who was recording the events, but it sounded like a girl. Of course, because it was reprinted in a glossy, serif italic computer font, I couldn't identify gender by the handwriting. I'd come across no pictures of the original entry, but I wasn't terribly bothered.

_January 14, 1732_

_They've decided on a name—the town will be called Chorus, for the way the trees sing in harmony with the wind when it passes. It's a beautiful place, lush and green, and I've found myself a nice little spot in the forest to picnic and get away from the sounds of Father's men and their building. It's a very quiet area. It would be a pleasant place to release myself from the clutches of the world, a breath of fresh rain on the leaves, crisp apples, and musty bark. I'm afraid there's not much else, but for now I am content._

_She must be very in touch with her dead side_, I mused morbidly. Speaking of death so lightly, she must have had a simple mind, ignorant to what the dawn could bring. Or, more importantly, the dark.

_January 21, 1732_

_The trees are silent. They fear their songs will anger the Light Murderer, the Bane of the Moon. He walks in shadow and asks questions to bring you close, though you cannot see his face, for the dark consumes all but his ghastly smile. When you answer, and you answer incorrectly, your feet are forced forward, until you stand before him, and he takes you, ruins you, and you are gone forever. He's taken Josephine, a servant girl of my father. I am sad; she was my friend. Now she is lost to the dying branches, and no one knows where she may lay, none but the Moon and the Light Murderer._

My attention was rapt, but the entry ended there. I sighed and flipped the page, but for some reason, the date skipped all the way to May 27 of 1741. There was no mention of the "Light Murderer", and the speaker seems to have changed, a young man intent on explaining the development of Chorus. I continued to turn the pages, but they were all on border disputes and recording the town's growth.

I shook my head. It didn't make sense. Flipping back to the very front, I read the note in the front of the book, in which the editor explained that the beginning entries came from the diary of Camille Dark.

I frowned, giving the surname a double take. Dark? As in Lilith Dark? I wondered how long Lilith's family had lived here. Were they related to the founders? Could it be coincidence?

My head ached, and threw a hand up and laid it across the tender bruise. The doctors had said I was lucky not to have a concussion, but they might have made a mistake. The pounding continued, and I suddenly felt dizzy. I stood up, but stumbled. Covering my eyes with my hands, I hardly heard the voice in front of me before the familiar blackness returned and the floor rushed up to meet me.

* * *

When I blinked open my eyes to a buzzing sound, I was lying on my bed. I could tell it was late by the lack of light coming in through the dark curtains, and turning my sore head toward the clock on my nightstand, I saw that it was almost ten. With a groan, I rolled over just as my phone buzzed again. I flung an arm back and groped for where it lay by the clock, and upon unlocking the screen I found that looking into the sun would have been less painful on my head.

**To: Addie**

**WTF? Y is Capucine telling ppl u fainted in th library?**

**To: Addie**

**Yo, answer th fone!**

**To: Addie**

**U no im not gonna stop till u tell me wat happened**

**To: Addie**

**Omfg r u serious**

**To: Addie**

**Addie. Addie. Addie. Addilicious. Addie. Adelaide. Addie. Addie.**

…**Aaaaaaadieeeeeeee.**

**To: Addie**

**Omg r u dead?**

**To: Addie**

**If ur dead im callin the cops**

I sighed loudly, which hurt my head. Her most recent text was just sent, and if I didn't text back—

**To: Addie**

**Im fuckin serious ho**

**To: Kim**

**Stfu. I'm tired.**

**To: Addie**

**Oh, hey, ur alive**

**To: Kim**

**Yeah. Idk how. What's Capucine saying?**

**To: Addie**

**Sayin you passed out in front of nathnail **

**To: Kim**

**Idk who the hell "nathnail" is. And I wasn't even with Nathaniel.**

**To: Addie**

**Oh, mayb it wuz sumbody else then. Idr who it wuz. Whatevs. Iris was freakin out and peggy was all over it**

**To: Kim**

**Yay**

**To: Addie**

**Lol haha she told castiel and he was just like *poker face*.**

**To: Kim**

**Gotta love that kid. You can really tell he cares.**

**To: Addie**

**Ya, bout u. Bot u friggin coffee. Expensive shit. Saw him checkin out ur ass the other day**

**To: Kim**

**What?**

**To: Addie**

**Yep he's all like "dat ass"**

**To: Kim**

…**No. just no.**

**To: Addie**

**YES. Jk jk, I dint c him do that but he probly duz.**

**To: Kim**

**Is that how you write in Lit?**

**To: Addie**

**No, Addie, I do not right like a moron in Literachure.**

**To: Kim**

**Yes, Kim, I think you do write like a moron in Literature.**

**To: Addie**

**STFU. :) **

I didn't answer her after that, because I hadn't necessarily wanted to in the first place. Instead, I stared at my dark ceiling and thought about the diary entries I'd seen. Adelaide Dark—I shivered at the name.

Something nudged the hand hanging over the bed, and I froze, thoughts skipping to Lilith Dark's bloody lips. But then something nudged it again, something wet, and a whine accompanied it. Smiling, I leaned over the bed to scratch Beau behind his ears.

But it wasn't Beau, after all.

Charlotte lay on the floor, covered in a dark liquid. I couldn't tell what it was at first, but then I remembered the chocolate syrup on Halloween last year. She gurgled, reaching out with a hand covered in blood, and grabbed my wrist. "Help me," she choked. "H-helkk-kkk—"

She coughed blood, spitting in into my face, I shrieked, falling back, off the bed. When I glanced up, Lilith stood there, clutching something covered in sticky red-black substance. It glinted menacingly in a strip of moonlight that fell across her blood-shot eyes. I tried to scream, but no noise came. She stepped off the edge, towering over me as I wrestled at the blankets. But they seemed to tighten, grow compact, freezing me in place. Again, I attempted a scream, but there was nothing, nothing but her horribly twisted smile. "Once you're gone, I won't have to worry about my mother's memory being betrayed. I'll get rid of all of you and leave him to grieve over what he has done to her."

And she buried the knife in my heart.

* * *

I gasped, flipping over to find myself gazing at the flickering lights of the school library. I'd had a nightmare…while I was unconscious?

"You're a damn train wreck, you know that?"

I sat up and swiveled on my hip, finding myself staring at Castiel, who was kneeling before me. There was a scowl plastered onto his face, but his eyes showed relief. "Shit. Oh my God. Where the hell did you come from?" I demanded.

He grabbed my elbow and hauled me up. My vision swam again, feet prancing clumsily, and Castiel wrapped a hand around my waist. "What, are you drunk?"

"Of course not," I tried to raise my voice, but it came out in an exhausted whisper. I tried again, this time in more of a girlish squeak. "I'm just a little dizzy."

"More like ditzy," he said as I vaulted forward. He tightened his grip, pressing me to his side.

"How long was I out?" I asked, putting a hand against his stomach to stay steady. I found myself pleasantly surprised at how solid it was; hard, even, with two of my fingertips resting in the short dips of his abdominal muscles. I blushed, ducking my head, which made me stumble again, and my body made a thick _thump_ as it collided with his. My lips were hovering an inch from his neck, and my heart was playing a game of wall jump. I couldn't look up at him.

"A few seconds," he said indifferently, but I felt something rap in his chest, too.

"Oh," I said. I paused, and we stood there for a few seconds. I took the chance to breathe in the scent of him; dried grass, hot winds, and summer storms.

"…Are you going to need a wheel chair or something?"

For some reason, his presence steadied me, and I was able to step back, albeit with a hand on his shoulder. "No," I replied, keeping my head low in embarrassment. I glanced around for the book, and found it on the floor behind my feet. Grabbing it, I stuffed it in my bag, not willing to bother with the checkout desk. They wouldn't even know it was gone. When I was done, I gazed awkwardly at Castiel and wondered what to say.

"I'll walk you home," he offered. Was it the crappy lighting, or was he…blushing? I didn't have time to invest in the issue, because he grabbed me by the elbow, this time more roughly, and led me out of the library, ignoring the librarians concerned glance. I wanted to ask him why he'd gone there in the first place, but it appeared as if he was in one of his moods.

"It's a long walk," I told him. He didn't answer. We walked the halls in silence, and he was still holding on to me when I noticed Nathaniel locking up the Student Council Room. He cast me a curious glance, as if he were trying to ask a question, but Castiel and I were out the doors before anything could be said. The air was frigid, and I stuck my free hand in my bag before remembering that I had left my jacket at home. Why was I so incredibly stupid? I glanced at Castiel, wondering if he'd noticed and if he would lend me his. Leather didn't conserve heat that well, but it was better than the thin long-sleeved shirt I was wearing now.

However, he seemed to be lost in his dick-headed mood, and his tight grip on my elbow was beginning to hurt. I wasn't skinny or gangly, but I wasn't robust, and though my hips were attractive in proportion to the rest of me, they weren't big, so to speak; the point being that I was still much daintier and smaller than Castiel, and therefore much weaker and more susceptible to pain. "Uh…Castiel?"

He didn't stop, but his pace slowed, at least, and I winced at the way his hand tightened. "…I'm cold."

Castiel regarded me with pause. He stared at me for a moment, and I began to wonder if he thought I was making a dumb statement or that I should've just asked outright instead of dropping hints. But slowly, he shrugged his jacket off, releasing his painful grip, and handed it to me. I tried, unsuccessfully, to suppress the smile twitching at my lips as I put it on, unintentionally sighing with relief at the warmth of it. So maybe leather did conserve heat…if it came from someone like Castiel. Now that I thought of it, he reminded me of summer, blazing heat and fiery thoughts.

This time, he took my hand, which surprised me. I made my expression neutral, afraid to scare him away, but pondered over whether or not that would discourage him. In the end, it didn't matter, because he had already turned and pulled me along with him, about twos step ahead of me. From where I was, I allowed myself the biggest, goofiest grin I could muster, finally able to relish in how drunk I was on his presence. I gazed down at his hand, clasping mine, and noticed how lax his fingers were, the way mine just lay there, straight and unresponsive. Feeling melancholy at the idea of him thinking I wasn't interested, I wrapped them around his just as he was about to let go. For a moment, his surprise was palpable, but he eventually returned the gesture. I decided I liked the way our hands fit together, like…yin and yang, or something. I was too high on him as it was to make similes and metaphors out of it. I just wanted to be there, with him. To feel what I never have gotten the chance to feel. It was like there never was a Lilith Dark or a gun on Halloween or Capucine getting hurt or even a Damian Hallowell. There was nothing but blissful silence and a cold breeze.

When we reached the start of Meriwether Road, Castiel finally broke the ice and asked me where I lived. He started to angle himself toward the street heading to Stonegate, but I shook my head. "Up there," I explained, nodding to the road ahead, which led to Meriwether Heights and then West Madison Road. He spared it a cursory glance.

"Are you a Soc?" he joked, pulling me in that direction. Frankly, I was stunned that he was talking about _The Outsiders _when I'd figured him the type to blast music rather than read. Maybe because that was more my thing, and I was confusing him with Nathaniel.

Yeah…no.

"Are you a Greaser?" I teased. He snorted. The trees bordering Meriwether Road shifted, like they were speaking to each other, and though it wasn't sending out a scary vibe, I pressed closer to Castiel. I'll admit that I'd hunted for ghosts when I was younger, but that didn't mean I wasn't wary of the dark. Our laced fingers tightened around one another, and this time, I definitely saw the blush, standing out even in the dark.

I was right when I said it was a long walk, but it was by no means unbearable, especially with him there. Before long, we were on Meriwether Heights, which curved around the hill that West Madison Road was on. A few cars passed by, which made me nervous with their proximity, since the thin sidewalk we were on was bordered by a railing overlooking the mediocre drop to the valley below. I could see Sunnyside Beach from where we were, even smell the ocean.

"Damn," Castiel mumbled. "Snob Hill."

"I hate it," I said forcefully. He glanced at me. "All the people are pedantic pricks who look down on you if you don't dress and act like them."

"Huh. Does that idiot and his dumb sister live up here?"

I sent him a coy smile. "Yes, yes they do."

We continued in silence until finally reaching West Madison Road's gates. When we got there, I reluctantly pulled my hand from Castiel's and walked over to the left pole, punching in the code. The gates opened, but when I beckoned him in, he stayed there. "C'mon," I said.

"I've walked you far enough," he said gruffly, and I hoped that after holding my hand, he probably wasn't necessarily trying to mean.

"I don't think you have," I replied softly. Ignoring the warning breedle that emitted from the code box, I strode back over to him and took his jacket off. I was suddenly freezing, but coerced myself into handing him the leather garment. He received it and pulled it on, stuffing his hands in his pockets. My own were icy now. "But I guess there's no stopping you. Will you at least let me drive you?"

Castiel smirked. "Nah. If you drove me now it would feel like we walked all this way for nothing."

"Are you sure? It will be hard to see you in the dark, you might get hit by a—" I stopped at that familiar, arrogant grin.

"Worrying about me?" he taunted. I blinked.

"Um…yes, actually. I wouldn't want you to get…hurt…"

He looked ready to say something, and had gotten really close to me, when we heard a car come up the road. I saw the gates beginning to close and quickly thanked him for walking me home before slipping between the narrow gap. When I stepped onto the unstained, white sidewalk on Madison Place's side of the gates, I turned, recognizing the person in the car that pulled up next to the keypad. Nathaniel leaned out, punching the code in, glaring at the red-haired boy that was striding away from the gate while he waited for it to open.

I had to stifle a laugh when Castiel flipped him off.

**Reviews are important…without them, I will fall off of an imaginary cliff in my mind and then this story will shrivel up and die, slowly. Very sad.**


	8. 7) Strange Happenstances

**I remember a reviewer that flamed a story of mine with unnecessary spite. I'm assuming they weren't accustomed to my fanciful and fantastical writing…I thought I'd hit the jackpot when I searched and found their name on the site, but when I navigated to their profile, I saw that their PM option was turned off…if you're too scared to defend yourself and have to make a cheap one-up and dodge, then you can officially consider yourself a shame to the internet.**

**A/N: **The date in the archives last chapter (Camille Dark's diary) was edited to fit the story better. If you're a lazy little shit like me the first date was changed to 1732 and the second to 1740.

Also, I don't like dropping the F-bomb (ironic, I know)…in My Candy Love fics…so warning, it's in there more than once. Let's have a mutual understanding here, okay? Please don't report me, I don't see the reasoning behind it; sign a petition or something, (or just gain collective support on the issue) and the rating will change. I would prefer to keep it rated T though.

This took a long time to update…I'm a lenient writer, and my life outside of writing fan fiction probably isn't similar to most of the other writers' online.

**Disclaimer: I don't own My Candy Love, **_**Don't You Forget About Me **_**by Simple Minds, the Breakfast Club, or Sixteen Candles.**

**Chapter 7—Strange Happenstances **

_Friday, November 6_

"Addie, do you know who Leilani Armstrong is?"

I frowned at Alexy, stuffing a history book in my locker. "No. Is she a junior?"

Alexy shook his head. "She was a senior, I guess."

"You guess? Do _you _know who she is?"

"Addie, babe!" It took me a moment to recognize Zane's voice. I grinned and glanced over my shoulder as he trudged down the hall, ignoring the stares he had invoked. "It's been _forever_, beautiful."

"You suck at flattering. And it's been a few days." I pushed my science notebook to the back of the locker. I wasn't going to need it today; we were doing a lab that would get turned in at the end of class. "Did you just get out?"

"Nope," he said, sparing Alexy a glance. The other boy looked a little dazed, which reminded me of the way he kept looking at him in Mr. Jenkins' class. "Got out late Monday morning. The shots only grazed me, but my 'rents were freaked. I had to pretty much beg on my knees for them to let me go today."

"It's a Friday," I pointed out.

"Yeah, but my class is having a _condom _lab today! You think I'd miss that?"

"Marked it on your calendar, huh?" I assumed drily. "Figures. You do that in Lab Chemistry?"

"Hey, you know me. Kind of. For, like, a week. Not talking to each other. And no, I have Biology." He shifted his feet. Footsteps echoed faintly against the bustle of the hall as a girl ran up to him and handed him flowers. Looking dumbstruck, he accepted, just as her boyfriend strode over and held out a bag of muffins, claiming that his mom had made them. After they had left, Zane stood in front of me, staring awkwardly down at the objects in his hands.

"I got them too," I explained.

"Yeah," he replied. He looked troubled. "Uh…I have to tell you something later, Addie. Find me during lunch, okay?"

"Sure," I said, wondering if it had to do with Halloween. I still couldn't figure out who had been chasing us since they found Lilith's body. Furthermore, I wondered what had killed her, if they'd identified anything. My mind was constantly haunted by the memory of her grim red lips, twisted into a fake smile, the misery evident in her dark eyes. And how a dead girl could have possibly been following me. There was only two possibilities, the way I looked at it; either Lilith was somehow killed in the timespan while I was out (which might have something to do with what Zane wanted to tell me), or it was someone else, and Lilith had been dead and coincidently was found during the search for Zane and I.

Zane left, and I walked to class with Alexy, although the idea of work bored me. I resolved to stare out the window and answer with "4" whenever the teacher called on me—and Charlotte was kind enough to kick me where there was already a bruise from her damn heels when this happened. At that point, I reached for Armin's water bottle, which instigated her sudden disinterest in attacking my beautiful hips.

"I hate math," Alexy grumbled behind me. I could tell he was leaning forward with his head in his hand by the way his breath ruffled my hair. "I'm supposed to be good at it because I'm a guy; there's like this scientific stuff that says guys are better at math and science and girls are better at reading and writing. But I suck in this class. And it's not even an Advanced Placement course or anything."

I scribbled a note down on a corner of my paper, fake-stretched, and dropped it on Alexy's desk, like it was straight out of _Sixteen Candles_. I'd written a reply about how bad I was at it as well.

Charlotte kicked me again.

I threw a cursory glance over my shoulder. "What the hell do you want?" I hissed.

Her face was pale. She blatantly leaned over the side of her chair and placed her phone on the edge of my desk. I narrowed my eyes, picking it up while keeping my eyes on the other girl, as if asking permission. Nothing in her gaze changed; even her eyes were frozen, like a pair of mirrors facing each other in a white-painted room. I glanced down at the screen, where a message had popped up.

**Did you think it was over when they found my body? Because I'm feeling better than ever. As a matter of fact, how does a nice, long game of hide-and-seek sound to you?**

* * *

"Charlotte, please tell me this is _not _who I think it is."

She locked the bathroom door behind us, pressing her forehead against it for a moment. "Ew," she muttered, cringing away almost immediately and snagging a paper towel from the dispenser. She ran it under water and wiped her forehead off, tossing it in the trash before gripping the edges of the sink with labored breathing.

"_Charlotte."_

"Yeah, Addie! That's her number!" Charlotte snapped. "Give me a second, okay?"

"We don't have a second. It's lunch time and kids are going to be banging on that door for the next hour. Spit it out now before people have time to eavesdrop."

I jumped as she collapsed on the floor, hands pressed over her eyelids. I was shocked into silence as black tears slowly began to run through her fingers and down her hands and cheeks. "I thought this was over," she breathed, voice cracking. "I thought she was gone," a sob ripped from her chest, and she pressed her lips together before continuing, "…gone for good."

I refused to roll my eyes or groan. She can cry if she wants, I reasoned. Lilith has been harassing her for a long time.

"Look, maybe we're wrong. Maybe it's some sick prank—"

"_It's not a prank!" _she screamed. I blanched, placing a hand on the wall as if she had struck me. "Are you stupid? It's obvious, Addie! She's not done yet! She won't be dead until she's ruined my life. That's what she always wanted! And now you—she's going after you! Because she died before she could do it, she's going to hurt everyone around me!"

"You're aren't going to let a little fuck-up like Lilith ruin your life, damn it. You're tougher than that, aren't you?" I demanded, stepping forward with my shoulders set. "Get off the floor, Charlotte. This was what she wanted, wasn't it? You just said so yourself." I grabbed her arm, and pulled her up on shaking legs. She was taller than me, which made me feel a bit absurd, looking up and giving her advice. Or a pep talk. Or a monologue. Yeah, a monologue. "This is the girl whose friend has the entire school in her back pocket. You've got a mind of your own, too, which takes you out of her shadow. And you're _crying?_"

She blinked, hands limp at her sides and face a puffy red mess, the eye sockets a sticky black mess. "You can't just fall down and bawl. If you don't do something this won't ever be solved."

"How can you not be afraid?" she riposted. "She's threatening you too!"

"I am afraid, afraid she'll hurt my friends—and my _family_," I replied pointedly. I ambled over to the door and turned the handle, swinging it wide open. A freshman stood before me, hand raised halfway from her sides. "Get lost," I snapped.

"It all starts with me though. I'm at the center of it. How can I make sure she doesn't attack my mom or Tandy? Or…" she faltered. I wondered if she was going to say _Jett_.

The freshman had scuttled away. I gave Charlotte one last grave look. "Her last name suits her, doesn't it?"

Charlotte stared, breathing heavily and seeming partly confused, partly suspicious. "…She was some devil-worshipping freak who loves the dark, yeah."

I glowered back at her. "I'm not scared of the dark."

* * *

Zane pulled me past the crowds of the courtyard during the second half of lunch, which was when everyone was lounging about, looking up at the cloudy sky and pulling their jackets tighter around themselves. It was going to start raining soon, doubtless. Once we had reached the safety of an isolated bench near the fence, he plopped down and didn't bother with the niceties.

"They found her," he said flatly.

"I know," I responded, sitting down beside him.

"But she was there, Addie."

"Okay. Yeah. She magically died while I was passed out, am I right?" I retorted morbidly.

"…No. When she pulled the gun out and I found you—I was still awake when she shot me. When you fainted she just stood there for a few seconds. Scared the shit out of me. And then she left. She freaking left and I'm like, laying there, bleeding. I almost died. I mean, I obviously wasn't going to die or anything but you know…"

"I was wondering what happened afterwards. When I fainted, I mean."

"You don't really look like you care."

"I suppose I should," I sighed. "I just can't seem to convince myself that she went after me—us—because she wanted to hurt Charlotte."

"Is that what it's all about? They're still in their bitch fight?"

"…Yeah."

"What—are you kidding? Some freaky ghost chick is attacking people because she doesn't like your step-sister? Why—how—what the _fuck_?"

"Let's not use the f-word, we're good children," I reprimanded him snidely. He shot me a wry glare, which I ignored. "And yes, it's their bitch fight that I wasn't around to witness before Lilith went missing. Died. Came back as a ghost, whatever."

"Probably is a ghost," Zane mumbled grimly. "I think she's a God damned ghost. Jesus, Addie, I'm scared shitless, okay? Everybody's going to think I have low T or something…"

"Low T?"

"You know that testosterone commercial? Like, '_do you have low T?_'"

"No, nor do I want to."

"Anyway…did your bratty sister tell you about all the bad blood between her and Lilith?"

I lightly tucked the flesh below my lower lip between my teeth. "Yeah."

"It's funny. Lilith and Amber would go at it in the halls, and not very many people knew she had it out for Charlotte. As a matter of fact, almost nobody knew about it."

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"So there was this one time," he started, slouching against the bench, "and I was out with a few other guys. That Jett kid, Charlotte's ex, and a few others. They tried to get Castiel to come, but Jett doesn't like him, thinks he's a dick or something—"

"Wait," I interrupted. "Guys have bitch drama?"

"Not usually. I don't know, Jett and his homies really hate him, can't remember why. Castiel whooped his ass at basketball or something in front of Amber in eighth grade, I think. He liked her then, but he thinks she's a bitch now. Where was I?"

"Why does no one tell me this delicious gossip?" I inquired cynically.

"So, we got dared to graffiti the school walls with the worst thing we could come up with," he went on, ignoring me, "While we were there we saw Lilith getting into Charlotte's locker. We were wondering what she was doing, so we walked over and asked her. She made some really dirty insinuation about why we wanted to know but eventually pretty much told us she hated Charlotte's guts. Jett got all defensive and shit. That was the beginning of freshman year, September, right before they started dating. Then she made these weird-ass threats that sent half the group running home when we got back outside."

"Huh. So what did you design?"

"Oh, you mean my paint job? I made the principal with devil horns and the sign of Satan with the number six printed three times on her shirt."

"…Whoa. Did you get caught?"

"No, but Jett's buddies did. Two of them got expelled; the others were suspended, depending on how bad theirs were."

"That sucks."

"Yeah, the only people who didn't get caught were Jett, Kelley and I."

"Kelley? A girl went with you?"

"Kelley's a guy. There's a girl named Kelsey, though."

"Cool, I don't care about Kelsey. And at this point, I don't care about Kelley, either. I care about myself. I like me."

"I like me too," Zane concurred.

We sat there for a while, even though the area was sort of remote and anyone who had seen us leave the main section of the courtyard would think we were screwing. I didn't mind really; Zane didn't look like he would be half bad, although I do have a sense of pride, and my virginity is a result. I mean, there are other reasons I haven't had sex, and most of the female population could sympathize. Either way, it was nice to get away from the school's clamor, and I even had enough time to listen to Simple Minds' _Don't You Forget About Me_, which then reminded me of the ending scene of the Breakfast Club. That's probably what happens to most people.

When I got home, I took the time to research anything interesting that had to do with Sweet Amoris. Anything, whether it be as simple as the community house being haunted or some legend I haven't been around long enough to recognize, as long as it got me a decent grade. Eventually, while reading a detailed biography on Wikipedia about the city, the name "Chorus" popped up in my peripheral vision. Scrolling back up the page, I paused at the History section. My eyes scanned it for anything I could use, and froze when at the very first sentence.

"_Sweet Amoris, formerly known as Chorus, was founded by Antoine Dark in the early 1730s. It was originally a shipping town and port for trade…"_

Antoine Dark. As I sat in front of my computer with the pink mouse pad, I hooked my toe around my backpack's strap and pulled it towards me, retrieving the booked documentaries and flipping to the first page. Supposedly from the diary of Camille Dark. Re-reading what I had found, it became evident that she was probably the founder's daughter, or the "Father" she spoke of was directly related to the founder, and the former seemed more likely. I leaned back. It couldn't be coincidence that Lilith had the same last name as Camille. She wasn't the only person on the earth with that particular last name, surely, but just to be sure, I typed in "Camille Dark" in my search engine after citing the name of the two Wikipedia pages I had visited on paper. Mr. Jenkins didn't care where we got our sources, so long as they _sounded _professional.

Few results showed up other than her being the daughter of Antoine Dark, founder of Chorus, now known as Sweet Amoris. In my boredom, I mused at the rhyme and half-heartedly contemplated telling Lysander about it. I wished I could write music like him. I sing in the shower and when I'm doing homework, and I think to myself, my voice is pretty; I like the way it sounds. Although I can hardly even tell the difference between a soprano and an alto, so maybe I'm just tone-deaf.

I sighed, deciding that I was way too unfocused to be doing homework—specifically homework that wasn't due for a month—and resorted to standing, shutting my door, and falling onto the bed. I rolled onto my stomach and, completely by chance, remembered walking up Meriwether Heights with Castiel, our hands fitted together perfectly. Sighing, I kicked my legs at the comforter, too lazy to get up and adjust it as I tried to burrow my way under the sheets. It was weird, the way I felt around him. When I was with Aeron it seemed like duel dominance, as if we were both leading each other, and sometimes it was just me—I thought I had preferred it that way. But being around Castiel…there was some feminine, lustful part of me that wanted the dominance to be his and his alone, and only when it came to me. As if I got a kick out of him being able to hold me down if he wanted with nothing I could do to stop him. I must be a masochist.

"…Witchcraft," I muttered.

* * *

_Saturday, November 7_

"Pleeeaaaase?"

"No."

"Pleasepleaseplease?"

"No."

"But _Daddy_…"

"I know I should say no when you use that voice," Dad replied gruffly. Cadence watched amusedly from the couch.

"Give her a chance to speak, Taegan. You don't even know what she wants," the older woman reasoned.

"Do you _hear _her?" he demanded lightheartedly. I gave Cadence the fat lip. "I just wanted coffee…but _no_, my father neglects me and refuses to let me have a social life!"

"Oh, now you sound like Charlotte," Cadence sighed.

I cringed. "I was joking."

"Coffee? That's all you wanted?" Dad asked incredulously.

"I wanted to go to the Forum with Alexy."

"The fruity one?"

"That's really mean, Dad. He's nice. One day he's going to get some super-hot model swimmer guy that will make even _you _drool."

Dad cringed similarly to the way I had. "I highly doubt that."

I grabbed his keys off of the counter. "May I?"

"If you see any crazy young girls running around shoving people off of cliffs, please make a beeline home or call me, okay?" he deadpanned, referencing the incident at the Reef. I didn't respond, acting as if I hadn't heard as I went downstairs to the garage. Clicking the "unlock" button on the clicker attached to my Dad's keychain, I swung the driver's side door open and hauled myself in, shivering at the slight cold that seeped past the garage doors. It was raining, as was tangible by the line of runoff trickling past the doors and dull roar. Twisting the key in the ignition, I cranked the heater up, despite being layered in two jackets, the white hidden under my red Puma one. I hit the switch on a handheld remote Dad kept in his console and the garage doors slid up, sleek, like only a rich person's would. I scowled, resisting the urge to gun the motor out of the driveway. I might disturb the gravel.

Rolling out, and closing the door behind me with a flick of my finger, I returned the remote and sped down the driveway, far faster than I was supposed to. The drive to the Forum seemed to pass quickly, and when I parked on the curb I noticed Alexy sitting just inside, in front of the windows. He saw me and grinned, then started making weird gestures at me. I couldn't understand what he was doing, and when I was greeted by a blast of welcome heat and aroma of rich coffee bean he quickly leapt from his seat, grabbed my arm, and sat me down across from him. Dizzy, I laid a hand on the table and attempted to stare at him.

"Sorry. I was excited," he apologized.

"What for?" I inquired, shrugging my top layer off.

"Oh…nothing…" he said, glancing conspicuously behind me. I glanced back at a table cram-full of rowdy kids in Varsity jackets…who looked like they came from the local university by the colors they sported. I barely avoided rolling my eyes as Alexy pushed a steaming Styrofoam cup towards me, the lid left abandoned at the edge of the table. I stared at it suspiciously.

"White chocolate mocha?" I verified, taking a tentative sniff. Alexy grinned. "I figured that's what you would want since you always get it before school."

"Sometimes," I corrected him, a hot line of the liquid burning its way down my throat. I repressed a stimulated (I know what you're thinking, you little perverts) beaming smile and lazily shrugged. "Do I have to pay you back?"

"Nah. Only the gas," he joked. I didn't laugh.

"Thanks." I frowned at the buzzing in my pocket. No, Kim, I do not want to go anywhere but the coffee shop. It's warm in here.

"So…you remember what I was talking to you about yesterday?"

"Vaguely. The thing about the junior?"

"Senior."

"Yeah, I remember. Lily or something," I responded, winding my fingers around the mug again as I lifted it to my lips.

"Leilani. She died recently."

The liquid never even touched my tongue. "…What?"

Alexy gazed solemnly at me, resembling a kicked puppy. I winced at the familiarity of it; it was a look that Aeron had given to me to make me feel better when I was upset. He'd always looked so ridiculous that it made me laugh. "She died not that long ago. The authorities found her body in a ditch somewhere when her folks called her in missing."

My hands were shaking, so I set the mug down. Why was this affecting me? I didn't know her. Sure, it was sad, but why should I shiver at the death of someone I never knew?

"I guess she had everything on her when they found her. Clothes, purse, money, even her makeup looked fine. But they think she fell into the ditch and snapped her neck or something. There hasn't been news, but it seemed like the most likely cause."

"God, that's terrible," I said, trembling. I cracked my knuckles—something that drove Dad nuts and Charlotte referred to as "unfeminine"—and proceeded to put my coat back on. I felt cold all of a sudden.

"Kind of like Damian," Alexy continued. "He fell into the river." There was a pause, and the blue-haired boy frowned. "They both fell…"

"Hello, ladies," said a surly voice. A hand swung into my line of vision and pulled Alexy's chair two feet back as it was replaced by another, this one topped by a tall, muscular guy with a douchebag haircut. Judging by the jacket and faint but tangible swell in his stomach, I guessed he was a linebacker.

"I'm the only one with ovaries here," I replied dryly, nodding in Alexy's direction. "That one's got testes. And big ones."

Alexy seemed to think that was funny, and the linebacker looked a little excited, which was the opposite of what I had intended. The whole _we're together_ vibe either wasn't rolling off of me in waves like it's supposed to in books and movies or the moron was…well, a moron. Or maybe he was smart and knew that Alexy and I weren't together and probably never would be. I had my suspicions about him. And he unconsciously proved them correct on a daily basis.

"Good, I wasn't interested in that one."

"Funny, I'm not interested in this one."

The linebacker laughed. "You're not single, are you?"

"Nope. I've got an insanely cool boyfriend. He's one of those bad boy types, _such _a thrill, if you know what I mean," I deadpanned. The linebacker's friends made a few appreciative noises from a booth behind me.

He cast a disinterested glance at Alexy. "Don't suppose you'd be up for a party?"

Alexy paled.

The linebacker let out a ricocheting guffaw. "Nah, I'm messing with you, man," he chuckled, clapping him once on the shoulder. In the next few moments he had waved to his friends and was out the door without so much as a second glance.

"I'm really glad he wasn't cute enough to flirt with, because he's a dick. He didn't even ask me my name," I sniffed.

"Yeah, but you've got a boyfriend anyway, remember?" Alexy teased. "One of those bad boy types, right? Red hair or something?"

A mental image of Castiel budded in my mind. I gave Alexy a confused look but the burn in my cheeks was probably tangible even with my summer skin.

"What are you insinuating…?"

"I thought I made it pretty obvious."

"…Because I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Not even the slightest clue?"

"Does this face lie?"

"Wouldn't surprise me, you're lying right now."

"I meant that I wasn't."

"You're lying again. Coupled with your obvious sexual attraction to Cast—"

My shoe connected with his shin and he was silent.

**Review please, but never the flames. Nobody wants to see that.**


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